The 27.5 percent salary increase agreement reached between the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Governors' Forum in the wake of the four-week old strike called by the teachers had been described by the Nigeria Labour Congress as unsatisfactory.

According to the Vice President of the NLC, Comrade Issa Aremu, who is also the General Secretary of the National Union of Textile Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGTWN), the 27.5 pay rise "is far from the ideal that the NUT legitimately demanded for," he said, adding that the amount can not contribute toward restoring the dignity of teachers in the country.

He, however, pointed out that the challenges of educational revival goes beyond improved pay for teachers, but that what is needed is a comprehensive long term approach that will address the general rot on the educational sector capable of putting a stop to Nigeria's poor educational and learning outcomes.
Aremu noted that "the country's educational crisis has almost been defined in terms of falling quality, incoherent curriculum, examination malpractices, poor funding, dilapidated structures and abysmally poor sectors management," which he said is true, but not the whole definition of the crisis.

He added that the real drivers of education are the teachers who are rarely talked about. In a signed statement titled " Beyond Teachers Strike: Consolidating The Gains," made available to THISDAY in Kaduna, Aremu noted that despite the demonstrated commitment shown by the Federal Government to the task of meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with respect to achieving the universal primary education, such, he pointed out, can not be achieved without factoring in the conditions, quantity and quality of teachers who are expected to make the miracle of educational transformation possible.

"The first challenge for educational revival is to restore the age long dignity of the teaching profession. It is when Nigeria cultivates well motivated, secured teachers that it can be sure of teachers who truly teach from the heart and not from the book as it is the case now."He also blamed the Federal Government for the length of the teachers strike, saying that chieftains of the Government subjected critical issue of education to the unhelpful academics politics of the federation.

"The teachers strike shows that the Federal Government with all its rhetoric about human capital development lacks focus about educational renaissance and in most cases lacks sincerity of purpose. If the Federal Government had offered necessary, focused and sincere leadership, the educational shutdown the nation witnessed will not have happened or lasted so long," he said, querying why people will subject the teachers pay to "unnecessary politics of federation ."

Source: thisdayonline.com