It has come again that time when teachers all over the world are remembered and celebrated for their efforts and sacrifices in nation building and global development. Teachers, through their contributions in grooming learners and providing them with the intellectual, moral, doctrinal and all-round knowledge necessary for their smooth sail through life, are sure movers in the development of any nation. CHIKA MEFOR writes.

The teaching profession has often been referred to as the mother of all professions because it is founded at the very roots of all other professions. All the other professions are nurtured and midwifed by the teaching profession. Simply put, without teachers, there won't be other professions. Teachers are found in every facet of life to impart knowledge and dispense discipline to learners.

The role of teachers in nation building is inestimable, hence it is often clichéd that, "the reward of teachers is in heaven."

While the aforesaid cliché may not be far from the truth with regards to the invaluable and indispensable role that teachers play in global development, it is however not acceptable, the perception that, "the teachers' reward is in heaven," which has been twisted or misinterpreted to mean that teachers and their contributions and sacrifices should not be accorded the appropriate financial rewards and compensations.

This twisted perception about the reward for teachers appears to be more commonplace in Africa, particularly Nigeria, going by the way and manner the issues that pertain to the welfare of teachers are not prioritised. Teachers are obviously the most relegated and disregarded professionals in Nigeria despite the crucial role they play in national building. This is seen in the tiny wages they are paid for the strenuous tasks they perform.

The great sage, Nelson Mandela, once said that education is the tool with which we can change the world, while Malcolm X corroborated this fact by opining that, "Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today." If the above quotes are anything to go by, then the teachers who are the primary stakeholders in the business of dispensing education, should be accorded their pride of place in the scheme of things.

Casting a long look at the welfare of teachers in Nigeria, one will see clearly that the teachers in this part of the world have been so relegated to the background that they are sometimes made to beg for their entitlements before they receive it. This is even as the so-called entitlements are nothing to write home about and cannot even meet the least of their needs. It is commonplace for teachers to embark on other after-school businesses to augment for the tiny remunerations and emoluments they receive as reward.

Recently, the formal president of the National Union of Teachers, Comrade Michael Alogba Olukoya, threatened governors who have not been paying workers (particularly teachers) their salaries with a withdrawal of support for their 2019 gubernatorial ambition.

"All states that are owing workers or teachers, the time for revenge and pay back is fast approaching. For the governors that are owing teachers or workers, if they don't want to incur the wrath of teachers or workers, they better pay up now because this is a payback time as we approach 2019," he said.

He issued the threat against the backdrop of the protracted refusal of this crop of governors to pay up workers in their states, especially as these governors know how much the workers depend on their meagre take-home salaries.

Over the last three to four years, the problem of owing teachers and workers their salaries across the various states of the federation, has indeed escalated. Across the states of the federation, teachers and other state workers are made to toil from month to month without any compensation for their labour. A breakdown of the debt accruing to teachers and workers from the different states of the federation shows that Kogi and Osun States have maintained the highest debt profile, while many of the other states are not free from the debt.

While it is obvious that Nigeria has more teachers than it can conveniently employ, the Nigerian teachers have been touted to be very efficient in delivering on expectation. Recently, when President George Weah of Liberia visited Nigeria, he implored the Nigerian government to intervene on behalf of his country for the augmentation of the huge teacher deficit in his country. This goes to show that there are actually countries that are willing to handsomely reward teachers because of the value they attach to teachers, and their lack of teacher manpower to meet their educational needs; while on the contrary, there are countries like Nigeria with a surplus of the population of teachers required by the country, and that do not consider it a priority to reward teachers appropriately.

The teaching profession in Nigeria has had to contend with a legion of challenges, which it has managed to meander through. A major problem that has bedeviled the profession is quackery and the proliferation of fake and unqualified teachers, a menace that the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has been battling for some time now.

In a bid to nip this problem in the bud, the TRCN has mandated all teachers in the country to ensure to get registered on their catalogue before the end of 2019. This order has led to a great cut down in the number of fake teachers in the country.

Last year's decision by the Kaduna State government to sack 21,000 teachers was also occasioned by the need to rid the state's teaching space of fake and unqualified teachers. Although the Kaduna State government's motive for carrying out such a mass sack was for good, the decision was met with resistance from the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, which jointly condemned the decision and blamed the government for not inviting the regulatory bodies to oversee the process.

Sometime ago in Edo State, former Governor Adams Oshiomhole personally supervised the screening of teachers who applied for teaching jobs in the state, and was shocked to discover that one of the female applicants could not defend the credentials she tendered for the job application. That incident once again spurred up the debate on the need to scrutinise those who claim to be qualified for the jobs they apply for, not just in the teaching profession but also in other professions.

As today is dedicated to celebrating teachers, it would be worthwhile to look back at how the teaching profession has fared since the post-colonial era set in. Firstly, the teaching profession has as its pioneers, the founding fathers. The likes of Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe and even the Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, were all teachers, and placed high premium on the acquisition of knowledge. This was why they invested the revenues they generated from their regions in education. They did well to continue in the path that was set for them by the colonial masters, and education became the greatest legacy they left for the generations to come.

There is no gainsaying that earlier generations of Nigerians had access to very sound education owing to the quality of teachers that manned the education sector back then. The teachers back then were selected from a crop of exceptionally good scholars who had distinguished themselves in their chosen fields and careers. But as time went on, the evolution of the nation and other factors caused the under-prioritisation of education and the consequent deterioration of the education sector. As the debate on the education status of Nigeria continues to rage, it is imperative to consider some of the resolutions that were reached by the NUT and TRCN with regard to promoting the interests of teachers and ensuring effective dissemination of knowledge to learners in the country.

Addressing the press during the NUT's Solemn Assembly early this year, the president of the Union, Olukoya, maintained that teachers' salaries, allowances and other financial entitlements that accrue to them should be regularly and promptly paid them, in order to boost their morale to deliver on expectations.

The NUT boss also expressed his disapproval of the decision by some state governments to grant financial autonomy to local government councils over the funding of primary education in their states. The teachers' union demanded that such autonomy be revoked, and the payment of teachers and the funding of primary education in the states be effected through first line charges from the federation account.

As it is the law for a teacher to retire at the age of 60 years, the NUT called for the upward review of this retirement age to 65 years, to make it possible for experienced teachers who are well equipped with the requisite knowledge and wisdom to remain in the profession long enough to exhaust their experience.

This resolution was brought before the Speaker of the House of Representatives by the NUT executive body, and was consented to by the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara, who even corroborated the decision by stating that "old wine usually tastes sweeter."

One needs not be told that the infrastructural visage of the nation's educational sector is nothing to write home about. This issue was also raised by the NUT in its resolution towards setting a great agenda for the education sector. The Union called for the renovation and construction of libraries and laboratories across schools in the country.

And in a bid to address certain uncommon anomalies in the education sector, the teachers' union called for stoppage of remittance of teachers' check-off dues to the Academic Staff Union of Secondary Schools (ASSUS) by some state governments, and stated that the NUT is the legitimate body that reserves the right to receive the check off dues of teachers.

The NUT states that the ASSUS is not a registered trade union in the country, and therefore, had no right to receive any check off dues. By virtue of the law establishing the Trade Union Congress, it is mandatory for check off dues to be deducted from the salaries of all teachers and remitted directly to the account of the Trade Union Congress, for the funding of the Congress' activities. Now, from all the issues raised with regard to challenges being faced by Nigerian teachers, the poor reward and welfare system happens to be the most disturbing of them all. So much can be changed in the teaching profession if the reward system for teachers is reviewed upwards.

Prof Ike Mbamalu, a professor of Clinical Psychology, thinks that teachers will do better if their pay is bettered especially when considering the fact that they still try to put their best into their jobs despite the poor and irregular wages they get. "Teachers are very important to nation building. Their role cannot be overemphasised. They have shown resilience in keeping up with the demands of their job, and I think that they will do better if their pay is bettered. You can imagine that despite their meagre reward, they still do very well. This means that they'll do even better if their wages are improved," averred Mbamalu.