COMRADE Jonathan Jemirieyigbe is the Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Delta State Wing and also, Vice-Chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Delta State Council. In this exclusive interview with CLETUS NGWODO , GROUP NEWS EDITOR, and SUNDAY EGEDE both of The POINTER Newspaper, he spoke on a wide range of issues on education in the state such as the relationship between the state governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa and the NUT vis-à-vis education related issues, the establishment of Vocational and Technical Education Board, screening of primary school teachers in some local government areas in the state and the poor performance of students in external examinations in recent time, among other issues of interest.
Excerpts
What is your assessment of Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa’s administration in relation to his (the governor’s) commitment to the development of education in state?
Without mincing words, teachers in the state have ray of hope under Senator Okowa’s administration as the relationship between the governor and teachers in the state has been very cordial. In fact, this administration affords us the opportunity, as members of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in the state, to bring our problems to the governor for one-to-one discussion with a view to proffering solutions to them (our problems). At any point in time, text messages or phone calls are put across to him whenever there are issues affecting teachers in the state and he answers and discusses with us with a view to addressing our problems. So, it is a good thing.
Can you, please, tell us one or two of such issues or challenges affecting members of the union in the state that the governor has addressed since he came on board?
First and foremost is the issue that has to do with the suspension of third term examination over non-payment of first and second term examination grant to principals and heads of schools. In addressing this issue, he directed that the approved money for third term examination should be shared into two equal parts, adding that part of it should be used to offset the examination grant of second term which was done and behold, the suspended examinations were conducted the following week. That was how the governor responded to both the plight of principals and heads of schools.
The second issue has to do with illegal conversion of some primary school teachers in the state. The governor’s initial intention was to reverse all the illegal conversions that were done for primary school teachers to their original salary grade level or status but he called on the leadership of the NUT and I went the Chairman of Delta State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Comrade Elijah Ologe to answer him (the governor). After my explanation on the ignorant nature of teachers over the actual officer in charge of conversion and the teachers’ inability to differentiate between original and fake conversion letters, the governor saw reason with us and, instead of demoting the teachers that were already converted, it was the officers in SUBEB who were caught in the shoddy deal that were made to face the wrath of the law, while the teachers who got the conversion were made to enjoy the promotion/conversion. These are two areas where the government and the NUT have been having it well since the Okowa administration came on board less than three months ago.
Sir, what is your take on the Bill for Vocational and Technical Education Board which was recently passed by the Delta State House of Assembly?
The Executive Bill which was formulated by Governor Okowa to resuscitate vocational and technical education in the state is a welcome development because with vocational and technical education in place in the state, the problem of unemployment would, to a very large extent, be solved. This is because, it (vocational and technical education) would equip the youths, especially the students, with the necessary skills that would make them to be self-employed at the end of the day. The NUT in the state is pleased with the Bill which is apt and timely. The Bill, no doubt, is one of the sure ways of bringing prosperity to Deltans.
Recently, a teacher in one of the public schools in Delta Central Senatorial District who engaged a mercenary to be doing her teaching job was caught by SUBEB. What is the position of the NUT on this ugly development in the teaching profession?
It is a sad and pathetic story to the leadership of the union (NUT) in the state. Though we have not been able to see the alleged culprit to hear from her, the NUT condemns the alleged act in its entirety because we (members of the NUT) are trained professional teachers who should not do anything that may compromise the standard of education in the state. Incidents like this (engagement of mercenary to do a teacher’s job in school) could largely contribute to the problem of mass failure in external examinations. While we are fighting for the welfare of all our members, it is also our clarion call on them (teachers in the state) to be up and doing by being absolutely committed to their duties.
However, I still find it extremely difficult to believe that the person said to have engaged a mercenary to be doing her teaching job is really a teacher. We (NUT in the state) want to find out when she was employed and the qualification with which she was employed because a trained teacher cannot hire the services of a mercenary to do his or her teaching job for him or her. So, we still question if the alleged culprit is really a teacher or could it be an avenue to give teachers in the state a bad name? But if she is really a teacher, we vehemently condemn the act and warn against it.
Some local governments councils in the state have embarked on screening of primary school teachers in their respective local government areas with a view to ascertaining the actual number of teachers on their payroll as well as their salary wage bill. As the number one teacher in the state, what is your take on this development?
We support genuine screening of teachers, but we are against the abuse of the screening process. It is absolutely sad to note that some primary school teachers in some local government areas in the state have undergone the screening process for three times. Those who are carrying out the screening exercise are the ones who employed the ghost teachers. A teacher has no power to employ. If you check very well, you will see that the ghost workers are relatives of the political class and, at the end of the day, they (the political class) would have a way of shielding the ghost teachers from being caught.
Considering the fact that local government councils are facing critical challenges at this moment, are you in doubt over the ability of the exercise to yield positive result this time around?
It is my sincere prayer that the screening exercise would yield positive result this time around. However, we have cause to doubt the ability of the screening exercise to yield positive results, based on our past experience. In fact, there was an instance in one of the local governments in one of the previous screening exercises where the NUT compiled the names of people found in the payroll that were not teachers which was subsequently submitted to a government official who promised to take necessary action; behold, before he could take any action, he was called to order by the powers-that-be and nothing happened to the ghost names found on the payroll.
I will be bold to tell you that where the ghost workers exist is in the various local government councils. There are some local government staff who are, also, staff of DESOPADEC. We, also, have some local government staff who are no longer in this country but are still being paid their monthly salaries. In short, primary school teachers are not the ghost that the authorities of the various councils are looking for. The councils should look inward and re-examine how local government resources are being managed. Today, the salary of a local government councillor in Delta State is about N500,000 a month. Where did they get the bogus salaries? A Local Government chairman has many Personal Assistants (PAs) and Special Advisers (SAs). Where did they (the councils) get money to pay these political appointees? All these are questions that are begging for answers. They (authorities of local government councils) leave the real issue and are pursuing shadows. We are waiting for them (local government councils) to publish the names of ghost teachers in their respective local government areas. Like as I said before, the NUT is not against genuine screening of teachers but we will not close our eyes against any local government council chairman or management that may want to victimize our members. We will close down the schools in such local government area until the real thing is done. That is the position of NUT in the state.
Sir, there is this rumour that the Delta State Government is planning to re-introduce payment of school fees in public primary and secondary schools in the state. How do you look at this development?
Like as you said, it is a rumour and I believe vehemently that the development is a mere rumour because there is a national policy on free and compulsory primary and basic education in the country which the state government cannot set aside. Even now that we are running free education in the state today, some parents still find it difficult to provide writing materials for their children. So, you can imagine what would happen if you ask them to pay school fees for their children. If payment of school fees is re-introduced in the state, many children of school age would obviously be forced out of school, a development that would bring about monumental increase in the number of out-of-school children in the country which is put at over 10.5 million by the United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Talking about the West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results recently released by the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC); are you comfortable with the result where only 38 per cent of students who sat for the examination were able to make five credits and above?
Why should I be? A sane mind would not be comfortable with that result at all. No teacher would be happy to see that his students are not doing well. Despite this, we should hold the government responsible for students’ poor performance in external examinations such as the WASSCE because instructional materials are not provided by the government ,and even where they are provided, they are grossly inadequate. Again, there is acute shortage of teachers in public schools in the state. Teachers are retiring every month and there is no employment to replace them. For instance, in my local government area which is Warri North Local Government Area, the last employment in the area was the one that brought me in in 1992 where I was employed as a teacher and since then, the local government which is one of the local government councils in the state with the highest allocation has not employed any teacher. We have 42 primary schools in the local government area with less than 100 teachers and there are over 50 pupils or students per class in some of the schools in the area.
Apart from dearth of teachers, there are other problems in the education sector that inevitably affect the productivity index of teachers and the output (performance) of students in external examinations. For instance, from February this year, secondary schools in the state were not paid overhead for running public schools which the state government was paying before until last examination. Then, in primary schools, subvention of N10 per pupil in a term was not paid by some local governments in the state. There is no comfort for teachers as some of them do not have office furniture. Tell me, how can a teacher handling a class of over 50 pupils or students be effective? He is to teach Mathematics and after teaching, he will do the marking, after marking, he will do the corrections, after doing the corrections, the pupils will write the corrections before he goes to teach another subject. Is that possible? Can the teacher even cover three subjects in a day under such circumstance? And at the end of the term, you are now setting examinations on five subjects. A teacher is not a magician, he is a human being.
Having identified the challenges in the education sector, what, in your opinion, is the way out?
The state government should take proactive measures that would address the problems bedeviling the education sector in the state which has been highlighted above. Specifically, the state government should address the issue of dearth of teachers in public schools across the state, provide infrastructural facilities that would promote teaching and learning; overhead and subvention should be provided as at when due and experienced professionals in education should be appointed to oversee education related organs of government in order to move the sector forward.
0 comments:
Post a Comment