…Urges states, FCT to implement teachers’ retirement age
…Union seeks ECE integration into public primary schools
By Chinedu Adonu
The National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Audu Titus Amba, has lamented the continued attacks, killings and abduction of teachers and pupils, urging governments to strengthen security in schools.
Amba spoke on Monday in Enugu while addressing the ongoing 59th National Conference of Delegates of the NUT, themed: “Deployment of Technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Education Will Erode the Place of Teachers in the Classroom: A Myth or Reality?”
He also urged state governments and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to fully implement the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers Act, 2022.
According to him, the law increased teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65 years and qualifying service from 35 to 40 years, whichever came first, but some states and the FCT had introduced guidelines contrary to the Act.
“Teachers must be allowed to retire with dignity and at the age prescribed by law,” Amba said.
He also called for the implementation of approved welfare incentives for teachers, including a special salary scale, bursary awards, pension scheme, career-path policy, housing schemes and loan facilities.
On Early Childhood Education (ECE), Amba said the NUT was pushing for its integration into public primary schools, describing the sub-sector as the most neglected area of education.
“The foundation of learning is laid at the Early Childhood Education level. Yet, this sub-sector is the most neglected,” he said.
Amba identified poor funding, inadequate welfare, teacher shortages, decaying infrastructure, insecurity and inadequate instructional materials as major challenges facing the education sector.
He urged governments to increase investment in education and fully implement safe-school initiatives to protect teachers and pupils.
The NUT president also opposed the proposed concession of King’s College, Lagos, to its Old Boys’ Association under a public-private partnership arrangement, calling for the proposal to be suspended and reversed.
Kebbi governor
The Governor of Kebbi State, Nasir Idris, commended teachers for their dedication, saying his administration did not owe workers salaries, pensioners pensions or retirees gratuities.
Idris said this while highlighting his administration’s achievements in education and workers’ welfare, noting that about 6,144 civil servants, including teachers and health workers, had been recruited.
“We are really doing something different in Kebbi State with regards to the growth of education and the welfare of teachers. We don’t owe salaries, we don’t owe pensions and we don’t owe gratuity,” he said.
The governor said more than 2,000 schools had been constructed, renovated and furnished, while thousands of furniture items had been provided for pupils and teachers.
He said the state had increased teachers’ years of service from 35 to 40 years, adding that similar reforms would be extended to other sectors.
“We want to ensure our children remain in school. We no longer want out-of-school children in our communities and streets,” Idris said.
Mbah backs teacher-AI partnership
Also speaking, the Enugu State Governor, Dr Peter Mbah, said the future of education should not be framed as a contest between teachers and technology, but as a partnership in which technology empowers teachers to deliver better learning outcomes.
He said AI could assist teachers in lesson preparation, personalise learning, identify learning gaps and expand access to knowledge, but could not replace the human qualities that define effective teaching.
“The future is therefore not teacher versus technology. The future is teacher with technology,” the governor declared.
Mbah described AI as a “handmaid of development” capable of making teachers more productive, innovative and effective, rather than an instrument designed to take away their jobs.
The governor said his administration had invested heavily in education in the last 40 months, with more than 33 per cent of the state’s total budget across three budget cycles allocated to the sector.
He said the state had recruited 6,850 teachers and other education personnel to address manpower shortages and improve the student-teacher ratio, while Smart Green Schools were being developed across the state’s 260 wards.
Mbah said the technology-driven schools were designed to prepare children for the future, stressing that the transformation of education must also include investment in the teachers responsible for delivering it.
“Our teachers must not be victims of the technological revolution. They must be among its principal beneficiaries and drivers,” he said.
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