Peter Obi, the Labour Party presidential candidate in the 2023 elections, has made the call for better welfare for teachers and an urgent need to revolutionize the education sector, which can help cut the population of out-of-school children in the nation.
He made this call, on Thursday, on his X (formerly Twitter) account, while celebrating with teachers World Teachers Day.
According to Obi, the development of the nation cannot be realized without the sacrifices of teachers.
The statement reads in part, “I would like to celebrate all the teachers in Nigeria today, as the global community marks World Teachers Day. I celebrate them for their commitment to the task of nation-building. It is often said that the building of great nations begins in the classrooms.
“The foundation of the development of any society is human capital development which can only be achieved through education and the immeasurable contribution of teachers. So, there cannot be any true development in a society without the critical input of the educators who are our teachers.
“The great rigor, hard work, patience, and dedication most teachers in different schools and institutions, especially at the basic level, put into their work to ensure that their students can become the best in learning and character, deserve special acknowledgment and hard work and dedication, have distinguished themselves in many ways, rather than celebrating individuals who contribute to the challenges facing us as a nation.”
He stressed the important role teachers played during his tenure as Anambra State governor, stating that “The many feats we recorded in the education sector in Anambra State under my administration as the governor would not have been possible without the commitment and dedication of the teachers in the state. We need to revolutionize education in the country by aggressively reducing the present 22 million out-of-school children and bringing them back to school. This we can achieve by making more investment in education and employing more teachers.”
Obi further urged the government to ensure prompt payment of salaries to teachers, and equal payment of teachers in the private and public sectors.
He also urged teachers to remain patient in the face of the rising hardship currently in the nation.
“I urge the government to take teachers’ salaries seriously and ensure that they are paid as and when due. At the basic education level, which is the most critical, governments should intervene in schools owned by private and voluntary agencies, and ensure that their teachers are paid as their counterparts in public schools.“
I encourage the teachers to remain resolute and patient despite the present hardship prevalent in the nation. We all look forward to better days, the dawn of the ‘New Nigeria’”, he concluded.
