The Delta wing of the
Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has re-echoed the call for the removal of teachers’ salaries from the local government system.
The Chairman of the union in the state, Mr Jemirieyegbe Jonathan, made the call in Asaba on Saturday during the 2013 World Teachers Day celebration.
Jonathan said the union was not against the proposed local government autonomy but that placing teachers’ salaries on the first-line charge was one condition under which the autonomy could be more realistic.
He said that legislators at all levels should exercise caution in handing the constitution amendment as it concerned the local government autonomy.
The chairman said that primary education had continued to suffer neglect under the local government while the teachers had been left at the receiving end.
He said the time had come for teachers to oppose any policy considered inimical to the growth of primary education in the country.
“Never again shall primary school teachers be returned to bondage and penury through unpatriotic and inhuman control of their salaries by the sadist local government operatives,” Jonathan said.
During the occasion, Gov. Emmanuel Uduaghan instituted a cash prize of N50,000 for the best primary school teacher in the state.
Uduaghan said the prize would be awarded yearly in honour of his Primary III teacher, Mrs Uwawa, who inspired him and never caned him or any child in the class.
The governor, who was represented by the Commissioner for Higher Education, Prof. Hope Eghagha, said his administration was committed to raising the standard of primary education in Delta.
He urged the teachers to reciprocate the government’s gesture by showing greater commitment in the discharge of their duties.
The theme of this year’s celebration is “The fate of primary education under the era of local government autonomy: a call for legislative caution”.