NUT TELLS BUHARI TO EMPLOY ONLY PROFESSIONALS

The Nigeria Union of Teachers has urged the Federal Government to endeavour to employ only professionals into teaching.

Only such teachers, the union said, would help to restore sanity to the nation’s education sector.

The NUT President, Mr. Michael Alogba-Olukoya, said this on Thursday in a telephone interview with our correspondent.

President Muhammadu Buhari, while addressing a joint session of the National Assembly on Tuesday, had said that his administration would recruit 500,000 unemployed graduates and holders of the National Certificate of Education as teachers next year.

“We also will collaborate with states and local governments to recruit, train and deploy 500,000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders. These graduate teachers will be deployed in primary schools, thereby enhancing the provision of basic education, especially in our rural areas,” he said.

But applauding the proposal, Alogba-Olukoya said rather than employ graduates from any discipline, the government should recruit only from the pool of unemployed professional teachers in the country.

He added, “Recruiting 500, 000 graduates as teachers is not the solution. The Federal Government has to employ qualified professionals who are roaming the streets. Engineers, lawyers and pharmacists cannot be good teachers. The place of lawyers is in the courts. If the proposal is not a political statement, then the government should endeavour to employ only professionals who have been trained to impart knowledge.

“Also, the Federal Government does not have enough classrooms to put these teachers. The best thing to do is to recruit and give the teachers to the states.”

Alogba-Olukoya also lauded the N369.6bn budgetary allocation to the education sector, saying it was indicative of its importance to the present administration.

The unionist canvassed that policy makers should emphasise vocational skills and entrepreneurial education when implementing the budget.

“It demonstrates that positive changes are coming to the sector but I will still say it is one thing to have a dream and another thing to have it actualised. We want the president to monitor the implementation so that by this time next year we will know that for once, we have an administration which knows the importance of education,” he said.