Teachers to earn higher Salaries

Teachers in the country will soon be earning salaries higher than what is obtainable in many other professions in the country.

The Minister of Educa­tion, Malam Adamu Ad­amu, stated this on Thursday in Abuja, while inaugurating the Governing Councils of 21 Federal Colleges of Edu­cation. He said the Federal Gov­ernment is currently work­ing on a proposal to make the teaching profession the most attractive through bet­ter welfare package to attract the best brains.

Adamu called on teachers who are yet to register with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) to do so before the end of this year. Represented by the Min­ister of State for Education, Prof Tony Anwukah, the Minister harped on the need for Nigeria to follow the footsteps of Malaysia by fo­cusing more on the teaching profession to ensure rapid development.

While saying that teach­ers in Malaysia are paid higher than other workers, the Minister said the Fed­eral Government will do all it can to adopt the same ap­proach. “What did they do? They brought the whole system down. Their planning was geared towards the develop­ment of human resources. In Malaysia, top percent­age of those who scored the highest in their equivalent of JAMB compete to be teach­ers.

“If you are a teacher in Malaysia, you are ranked than any other worker in the country. This is why you will find people with PhDs teaching in primary schools. Teachers are paid higher than any other per­son in Malaysia and we have made that recommendation and we are going to do that in Nigeria.”