Teachers' Voice – Nigeria - VSO

Terms and conditions• Federal Ministry of Education could implement the Teacher Salary Scale (TSS)• Within the necessary budget constraints, FME could evaluate pay and other possible benefits interms of adequacy, costs of living in different locations and incentives, making it a living wage.Include long-term security for long-term teachers.Human resource management• Employ enough teachers to comply with the government recommended pupil–teacher ratio of35:1, ensuring an adequate number of teachers per school.• Special needs schools should only employ teachers trained in special needs and the governmentneeds to provide these teachers.• Implement and monitor the execution of the TRCN’s law to employ only qualified teachers andmake the employment of unqualified teachers prosecutable by law.Policy processes• Federal and state governments, in conjunction with UBEC and SUBEBs, should ensure there aresufficient funds allocated for regular supervisions of all schools and ensure transparency andaccountability.• The NCCE should ensure CoEs do not enrol more students than acceptable in proportion totheir capacity.• Head teachers must get management training as soon as they are appointed – in both staff andschool management skills• Stakeholders, including teachers, must be involved in education policymaking, implementationand evaluation as a responsibility as well as a rightSchool environment• The delivery system of school materials needs to be improved and streamlined by SUBEBs,through the setting up of regional networks for storage and distribution.• SUBEBs should insure that teachers are confident about the subjects they teach and must beassisted by the provision of ample TLMs for themselves as well as for their students• SUBEBs should provide basic facilities – including drinking water, toilets (separate toilets forwomen/girls and men/boys) – and adequate electricity; telephones; computers; the internet;and libraries must be made available to all schools at the shortest possible notice so thatteachers are retained in the profession.Students and equity• The NCCE should increase the number of CoEs delivering inclusive education training.• The FME should begin to take steps to reduce the use of corporate punishment over a period oftime until it is abolished, upholding the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The NCCE andSUBEB should begin training on positive forms of discipline in the classroom.Teachers’ voice and status• The NUT should develop well-informed positions on debates about quality and relevance ofeducation as well as fighting for the betterment of teachers.• The NUT should be proactive in proposing policy changes that will result in better qualityeducation and a better situation for teachers.• All policy makers should consult the NUT on any reform in the education system.• Community boards should ensure teachers contribute to community development and areinvited to participate in the design of community development programmes.This research demonstrates the need for change in the Nigerian education system, confirmedby the present demotivated, devalued and demoralised workforce. Focusing on core issuesrevealed in this study for reform, would make teachers feel more motivated and satisfied intheir job and would deliver a better quality of education to future generations. This vision canbe achieved.55