Casualisation in its basic definition, according to the Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary, is the practice of employing temporary staff for short periods instead of permanent staff in order to save costs.
Casualisation in Nigerian parlance does not necessarily mean temporary employment even though it cannot be said to be permanent. Casualisation of workers is prevalent in Nigeria today because unemployment is steadily on the increase so most of the employers of labour rather than appreciate the services of their employees see themselves as doing them favour.
By right, it needs not to be so. If the skill of the person is of no benefit to you, you can as well do without him but that’s not the case because employers of labour are aware of the fact that unemployment is a pandemic in Nigeria so they use and dump people because they know there’s always someone out there longing to grasp that opportunity.
Casualisation is a legalized form of industrialized slavery. A person does not need to be in chains and shackles before he becomes a slave. When the services a person renders are not commensurate with the benefits that accrue to one it is a clear case of slavery, no matter the nature or nomenclature of the job, the organization, be it public or private, corporation, parastatals etc. Slavery is a crime against humanity. No matter how organized or embellished it is.
One of such places where this crime is being perpetuated most is in the education industry in Nigeria. Of course, there are other organisations or corporations guilty of the same crime but my focus is on the education industry in Nigeria, particularly the owners or proprietors and proprietresses of private schools. They are the major culprits in this heinous act.
The emphasis is on graduate teachers who go home with peanuts as their basic salary. The constitution or the laws of any land have binding effect to check and apprehend criminals by using the appropriate authorities. In my opinion, the government should come up with a uniform pay across all schools or better still stratify the school and each one that falls within certain strata will have what should be due him. Society is stratified and so the mega schools should give back to their staff what is commensurate with their services and not when they charge arbitrary fees but in turn pay stipends to people that have invested their time and resources over the years.
The average schools should as a matter of fact follow suit and pay their teachers accordingly and then, the mushroom schools that are obviously below standard should be closed down until when they have enough resources to beef up their standards.
Casualisation of workers should be checked as a matter of urgency, if we want our nation to be among the league of nations that are doing well. There is a case where a teacher in an average private school cannot even afford the fees of the same school that she works and therefore send their children to schools that are near training grounds for miscreants. If these teachers are paid accordingly, they too can afford to send their children to good schools. Most of these teachers have families and they can barely feed because of what they earn.
If an educated person with the requisite skills cannot take appropriate care of himself or family what would become of the illiterate. People will gradually lose faith in the integrity of having education since it cannot change your lot. Education, they say, is the bedrock of every civilized society. When people begin to feel apathetic to education then our future as a nation dwindles.
Let the government take critical steps and most importantly, I recommend ‘unionism’. This view will help a great deal if teachers in private schools have unions. It will be an avenue for them to chart their cause and get what they rightly deserve.
Teachers are indispensable and so must be given their pride of place in the scheme of things. Gone are the days when people pride themselves in being teachers.
I urge every owner, proprietor, proprietress of private schools to rise up to the occasion and correct the wrong. There is always room for improvement. Please improve on the living conditions of teachers in your society.
What we should always have at the back of our mind is that education is the only way to solve our problems as a people. We should not turn our back against it. We should put together everything that is needed to see that illiteracy is eliminated to its barest minimum. This cannot happen if we fold our arms and do nothing to the casualisation of Nigerian teachers. They deserve the best; we should not give undue preferences to doctors, engineers, lawyers, architects and what have you.
After all, the truth remains, they were all taught by teachers and they in turn have the sense of duty to transform our great nation. Teachers deserve the best; they have the right to normal lives. They deserve to live in good houses, feed properly, wear good clothes and most importantly, be able to pay their children’s school fees.
All these are like endless revelries when casualisation is the norm in our society. This evil trend must stop. It must not continue. When you casualise your staff, you fire and hire at will. Fair enough, a day would come when teachers will learn to stand for their rights and take their collective destinies in their hands. I pray it happens soon! Please proprietors and proprietresses of private schools improve on the living conditions of your employees (teachers) so that going to school to study education does not appear to be like a curse.
Ogwama writes from Port Harcourt