SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, (THEWILL) – The Federal Government is working on plans to ensure that teachers are paid salaries higher than other workers in Nigeria in order to attract the best to the teaching profession.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, at the inauguration of Governing Councils of 21 Federal Colleges of Education.
Adamu, who was represented by Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Anwukah, said the teaching profession had ceased to be “all-comers affair” warning that teachers in Nigeria across all levels must register with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) before the end of this year or risk being sent out of classrooms.
He revealed that the government studied how Malaysia got it right by first taking a critical look at teaching and teacher education adding that teachers in Malaysia were paid higher than other workers and that the federal government felt it was expedient to extrapolate that for implementation in Nigeria.
“What did they do? They brought the whole system down and ask what do you want us to do in education. Their planning was geared towards the development of human resources. In Malaysia, top percent of those who scored the highest in their equivalent of JAMB compete to be teachers,” he said.
“If you are a teacher in Malaysia, you are to ranked than any other worker in the country. This is why you will find people with PhDs teaching in primary schools. Teachers are paid higher than any other person in Malaysia and we have made that recommendation and we are going to do that in Nigeria.
“It is unfortunate that the noble call has not been able to attract the best and the brightest because of inadequacies in the system but the current administration is ready to get it right with the cooperation of all stakeholders.
“Colleges of education have remained critical institutions because they do not only produce teachers on which everything else is dependent, they also produce teachers at the basic level of education.”
He reminded members of the Governing Councils of the enormous task ahead of them and challenged them to come up with policies that would assist in the effort to strengthen the quality of teachers produced by the institutions as well as how to generate funding for their various institutions.
He urged them to avoid friction with the management of the colleges, saying there must be clear distinction between the management role of the institutions and the powers of the Governing Councils.
