THE IMPENDING TEACHERS’ STRIKE

Newsflash

Editorial

THE IMPENDING TEACHERS’ STRIKE

Tuesday, 07 September 2010

THE news of a planned nationwide strike by teachers came with the surprise of the sudden rippling of the still water of a lake. The Minister of Labour and Productivity, Mr Emeka Wogu, was reported as appealing to the national leadership of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) not to call out their members when he received them in his office on Wednesday, September 1.

ACCORDING to the report, the teachers’ leaders are unhappy that one state has not begun to pay the 27.5 per cent salary increase awarded to teachers about three years ago. Many state governments said they could not pay the salary increase after the award was made — they claimed they were not consulted by the Federal Government — and teachers in many states of the federation went on strike.

THE governors negotiated with the NUT leadership and said they would begin to pay the salary increase from a certain month. The teachers said that they had made a painful concession for peace in the public primary and secondary school system.

THE promised month came but the teachers were not paid the new salary in most states. The teachers resumed their strike. Apart from state chapters, the NUT has a zonal arrangement. A zone comprises several states and one of the zones was particularly slow in implementing the salary increase. This led to more strikes.

GRADUALLY, the strikes became localised when more states began to implement the award. The teachers in one state have just ended a long strike after the state government gave a date for the commencement of the payment of the new salary.

IT seems only one state government has not said anything definite about payment of the salary increase. The NUT leadership reportedly told the minister of labour and productivity that they would call a nationwide strike to compel the state to begin to implement the award.

WHAT the NUT leadership is planning to do appears to be an extreme measure. It seems the matter has not been thought through; it lacks the rigour expected of union leaders, especially those who lead teachers.

A strike culture is being created in Nigeria. Some of the strikes are extremely provoking, like the ones periodically staged by oil workers, especially those belonging to the junior branch. They once threatened to go on strike because of the poor state of many of the country’s roads. They said they would go on strike if the roads were not fixed within a short period. Their demand was not reasonable, though the state of the roads is inexorable.

THE new thing is sympathy strike. Doctors employed by the Federal Government went on strike in one state because fellow doctors in the employ of the state had stopped work to protest against alleged poor pay. The federal doctors’ action was hard to understand. Their sympathy strike was not likely to panic the state government into action and innocent patients were made to suffer.

THE planned nationwide strike by the leadership of the NUT may also not compel the “recalcitrant” state to immediately begin to pay the new salary. Pupils and students in public schools will further fall behind those in private schools.

NIGERIA now has two distinct educational worlds — the education provided by the government and that provided by private individuals and groups. Public school education is now the very poor relation of that provided by private schools. WAEC and NECO results have shown general poor students’ performance in the past three years, but the performance of many private school students has been outstanding.

STUDENTS even in village public schools used to do well in external examinations. This is no longer the case. Even famous government colleges, schools that produced very brilliant men and women, now record shocking results in WAEC and NECO examinations.

NUT leaders say the non-exclusion of unqualified teachers has greatly contributed to the dangerously slipping standards in public schools. This does not tell the whole story. Some teachers are not as dedicated as the teachers of not too long ago.

TEACHERS do not feel appreciated. In some states, they are regularly humiliated. Their credentials are perennially screened. In the 1980s and in the 1990s, they were the only government employees whose salaries were not paid for months.

HOWEVER, the bad treatment of teachers in one state should not lead to a nationwide strike. The NUT leadership should talk more with the only state that has not implemented the 27.5 per cent salary increase. Governments should honour their own agreements. There is said to be honour even among thieves.