TEACHERS AFFECT ETERNITY: MAKING A CASE FOR THE TEACHING PROFESSION

 As an undergrad, one of my most cherished memories was the day I gave a seminar defense of a group project on the topic: Public Administration in Nigeria. The Lecturer had divided the class into thirty groups with each group expected to write and defend on thirty different topics. Our group was the last on the list. As each group gave an account of themselves, the Lecturer was scoring and accessing simultaneously with the students who were adjudging through jeers and cheers. 

As I walked up to the podium as a bride walks down the aisle to be betrothed to her sweetheart and life partner, I developed goose pimples knowing fully well that the fates of about fifteen colleagues plus my credibility were at stake. I know deep within me, so much was at stake to prove and disappoint the doubting Thomases.  My results had always spoken for me, it was time for me to speak for myself, but stage fright is nothing unusual to even the best of speakers. 

Alone on the podium without papers, just my brain, it all depends on me: my knowledge, gift, and talent of teachings to do justice to the given topic (if God were to be taken aside, though God hardly steps asides for His beloved). Some of the students expected a fuck up since I didn't hold any material as one of my inner cycle friends later relayed to me. 

With sobriety but with confidence akin to a lion's courage, I gave an account of myself reeling out facts and information on the subject of my discourse. As I delivered the lecture, a pin drop silence permeates the hall, the only thing talking was the pen of my students' colleagues which was dancing caressingly on the papers. To a novice in the teaching or lecturing profession, it could be mistaken for disapproval but being a born teacher, I know it means my audience was absorbing the information given voraciously like a lion devour its prey. At the end of the lecture, I was given a near-standing ovation besides the positive affirmation from our erudite Lecturer who adjudged my lecture as the best of the seminar series. Like a champion, almost everyone wanted to have a handshake of me and request for a lecture time and a copy of our seminar paper.

While my lecture that day was surprising to some of my colleagues, to my inner caucus team, it was nothing unusual as many of them had always advised me to stay back in the academic environment, having identified the gift of teaching and lecturing in me. On one occasion, a favourite lecturer had equally advised me to pursue a career in lecturing. In fact, from my first year, people either called me Pastor or Prof with the popular one being the latter. The question is why did I decline? 

I declined for two reasons. One, I wanted to explore the mainstream of the economy to have a feel of what it takes to work in companies or the Public Service with the desire and determination to make a significant impact. Another reason is that the teaching or lecturing profession was nothing to write home about in terms of compensation and the conditions of work. You need to see the rickety tables and chairs of the lecturers back then, besides the worn out of some of their attires. It was some years later when the salaries and remunerations of the lecturers were increased a bit. The coming of private institutions have also enhanced the situation now.

Be that as it may, the teaching and lecturing profession is still nothing to write home about. Not only are their salaries not paid as at when due, but they are meagres compare to most professions in the country today especially in terms of the emoluments of politicians. And I hate to say this, as long as the teaching and lecturing profession is treated with disdain, the development and progress that our country earnestly desired will continue to elude her, no be curse! This is because teaching is the bedrock of all other professions. Without teachers, there will not be lawyers, doctors, accountants, engineers, surveyors, psychologists, astronauts, scientists, philosophers, just name it. 

As long as the academic environment is populated by those who have no flare for teaching or lecturing, as we currently have in most primary to tertiary institutions. The future of Nigeria state hangs in the balance. It is a simple fact that only the best can give the best. Most of the people in the academic world of our country today are those who got there, by accidents and because they see the teaching job as their last chance of getting a job. No wonder, most of the graduates being shunned out are being branded as unemployable. As an HR person, I almost nearly weep sometimes whenever I have an interface with job seekers. There is a need for urgent redemption in the education sector. 

WAY FORWARD

To get the country educational sector back, the following measures need to be urgently pursued:

1. Recruitment of the Best Brains - Nobody can give what he does not have. It is high time the best from our ivory towers are retained in the academic world. We need people who are knowledgeable and are gifted in teaching to build a new set of Nigerians with the right values, knowledge, and skills that will be reflected in their characters and competencies. 

2. Improved Welfare System - the teachers deserve the best both in terms of remunerations and emoluments. The conditions of service also need to improve. There must be qualitative infrastructures from offices to lectures rooms, libraries, and laboratories.  The days of rickety chairs and tables have to be bygone. Cars and housing allowances should be made available for teachers and lecturers. There must also be research funds for academic research.

3. Corporate Sector Involvement - the truth is funding education is huge. It's not something the government can do alone. Individuals and corporate entities need to be involved. This is how it is done in advanced countries. Research grants and infrastructure support from well-meaning individuals and companies must be encouraged and rigorously pursued by the various school management. Essentially, the alumni of higher institutions need to do more in giving back to their alma mater. This is what will ensure an interplay between the gown and the town. 

4. Students Loan - without students loan, every attempt to increase tuition fees will be rebuffed and rejected by stakeholders in the educational sector. This is because doing so will further impoverished members of the public who are struggling to send their children to schools. With student loans; the various higher institutions (private and public) will be able to charge appropriate fees thereby helping to boost their revenue profiles for research and development. 

5. Training and Retraining of Teachers and Lecturers  - education is a continuum because knowledge is limitless. Every day, new researches, innovations, and inventions are being pursued; thus, teachers and lecturers have the onerous responsibility of equipping themselves with the right knowledge that will make them being able to stand at par among their global compatriots. A situation where a lecturer uses the same lecture notes for fifteen years is not only uncalled for but anathema to the progress and development of the country.  

6. Less Emphasis on Certification -  there is a need for less emphasis on certification but competence. The school curriculum should be designed in such a way that skills and competencies are emphasized above certificates. Students from our secondary schools to higher colleges should be job creators rather than job seekers. This is how to grow the economy. This can only be possible when teachers are well taken care of and remunerated. 

The Nigeria educational policymakers must take as a priority the redemption of the educational sector through adequate and sufficient remuneration packages for teachers as teachers affect humanity and eternity. 

Happy World Teachers Day!

Sanmi Adekola is a Social Commentator, Policy Strategist, and Entrepreneur.