Teachers in Lagos State under the auspices of the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools of Nigeria and Basic Education Staff Union of Nigeria have appealed to the state government to make teachers’ retirement benefits ready within six months after they must have left service.
Speaking at the 2017 World Teachers’ Day celebration with the theme: “Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers” last Thursday in Lagos, BESUN Acting State President, Comrade. Olusegun Titus Faribido, said teachers should not be treated with contempt or disdain or as second class citizens in the country.
Faribido said that they should rather be given special treatment.
According to him, the shabby treatment meted to teachers in all cadres of the teaching profession had robbed education and the teaching profession of their traditional pride, dignity and honour.
“It is as if a tragic war has been deliberately waged against teachers in Nigeria. The government must face the challenge squarely and take all the necessary steps to redeem the image of teachers. Salaries and condition of service, including the office or classroom environment, where they work as well as our retirement benefits, must be competitive,” he said.
Pointing out that World Teachers’ Day celebration was an opportunity to acknowledge teachers and thank them for their significant contributions in the classrooms and communities, Faribido said this year’s celebration represented a significant effort to raise awareness, understanding and appreciation of the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development across the globe.
He, therefore, urged the local, state and Federal governments to assist by celebrating the teaching profession, create awareness about teacher issues and ensure that respect for teachers was made a part of the natural order of things.
ASUSS State President, Comrade. Kazeem Alabi Labaika, urged the state government to always involve teachers in curriculum development.
He also called on the State Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, to urgently reverse the promotion examination of the SS 2 students and the screening exercise of SS 2 to 3 students to third term as it was being done before, adding that it had always disrupted the curriculum of the first term.
On the achievement of ASUSS, he said the union was able to embark on a housing scheme, affordable health insurance scheme and seminar on empowerment.
The highlights of the prograamme was the presentation of gas cookers and cheques of N110,000 to 48 retired teachers.
