ABUJA- As teachers celebrate the World Teachers Day, the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has decried the poor working condition of Nigerian teachers.

“The economic status and working condition of Nigerian teachers deserve urgent attention as these are key determinants of the social status of a profession,” said TRCN Acting Registrar, Mr. Godwin Ogwuche. The month-long nationwide strike by the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in July over non implementation of Teachers Salary Scale (TSS) was a demonstration of their frustration over poor working condition. Ogwuche told newsmen in Abuja that government must improve the condition of service of Nigerian teachers to enable them to perform their roles in nation building.

“It is impossible for any nation to achieve the desired development if teachers are
relegated to the background,’’ he said.

“This is due to the fact that teachers mould, transform and bring about change by the very nature of their calling and training.

“It is important to give the profession the opportunity to prove its worth as the mother of all other professions,’’ Ogwuche said. The registrar said the poor condition of service had made it impossible for good hands to join the profession.

“What we have now as teachers is a group of people relegated to the background, because teachers are among the least paid in the country,” he said.

“It is a known fact that only the rejected seek admission into Colleges of Education
(COE) after failing to get into universities.

“It is also a fact that university graduates take to teaching as last resort,” Ogwuc he said.

The registrar said the TRCN had been in the vanguard for the improvement in teachers’ condition of service.

“The TRCN has over the past years provided chairmanship, secretariat and at times, funding for various committees to review teachers condition of service,’’

Ogwuche said. ‘‘It is also heart warming that the state governors have made commitment toward implementing the Teachers Salary Scale (TSS),’’ he added.

Ogwuche said governments should go beyond commitment to TSS by introducing other welfare packages for teachers to attract the best brains in to the profession.

“Nigerian teachers must be placed at par with their counterparts worldwide, because all over the world, teachers are among the best paid professionals.

“In Britain , Germany and China , among other countries, teachers are among the best paid, it is time for government to place the teachers where they belong,” he said.