Automatic employment, stipends for education graduates, students in Nigeria: Minister

*Only great teachers can produce excellent people and students that will make the future of our country great, says President Muhammadu Buhari

*There will be a special pension scheme to enable the teaching profession to retain its experienced talents as well as extend teachers retirement age to 65 years

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Besides the recent approval of a fresh special salary for Nigerian teachers, the Federal Government has also said that the payment of stipends to Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) students and granting them automatic employment after graduation is now a government policy in the country.

Malam Adamu Adamu, Honourable Minister of Education, who stated this Monday, in Abuja, FCT, at the commemoration of the World Teachers Day, said that President Muhammadu Buhari had also approved a special salary scale for teachers in Nigeria.

He also increased the number of years of service from 35 to 40.

According to Adamu, who represented President Buhari, the implementation of the new salary scheme was to encourage teachers in delivering better service.

The 2020 theme of the World Teachers’ Day is Teachers: leading in crisis, reimagining the future.

Teachers have the power to shape and reshape the lives of young people and help learners to enhance their potential.

The President stated: “Only great teachers can produce excellent people and students that will make the future of our country great.

“A positive or negative influence of a teacher on any child will have an effect on that child.

“Therefore the Federal Government is ensuring quality education to access”

Buhari disclosed that his administration has resolved that quality education of teachers in terms of engagement of continued professional development has to be given priority.

“To address these challenges, my administration has approved the following for teachers and the teaching profession.

“That in order to attract investment in the teaching profession, the quality of the introduction of bursary award has been restored.”

The President added that there will be a special pension scheme to enable the teaching profession to retain its experienced talents as well as extend teachers retirement age to 65 years and the duration of teachers’ years to 40 years.

“My administration has resolved that quality education of teachers in terms of engagement of continued professional development has to be given priority,” said Buhari.

According to him, there will be Special Salary Scale for Teachers in Basic and Secondary Schools, “including provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers allowance and peculiar allowance”.

Other promises include building low-cost housing for teachers in rural areas, sponsorship to at least one refresher training per annum to benchmark best practices for improved teaching and learning.

“Expansion of the annual Presidential Teachers and Schools Awards to cover more categories and for the outstanding,” he said.

Meanwhile, Buhari noted that he has approved the reintroduction of bursary award to education students in Universities and Colleges of Education with the assurance of automatic employment upon graduation.

He said: “The payment of stipends to Bachelor of Education students as well as granting them automatic employment after graduation is now a government policy.”