The entire world, on the 5th of October, 2025 celebrated teachers globally as has become the tradition to do annually. Nigeria generally and Delta state in particular were not left out on the occasion. For Delta state, it was an event that offered opportunity for the governor to bare his mind on the state’s love for teachers and teaching.
Illustrating the premium placed on teachers, the governor enumerated some mile stones recorded by his government so far towards ensuring a fairly satisfied teaching workforce. According to him, teachers and educators in the state are being equipped with modern teaching skills, digital literacy and collaborative methods of achieving set goals. Stating further, the man who propounded the MORE political theory into governance brought into reflection, the uninterrupted payment of salaries and allowances to teachers, ensuring that dignity of labour was matched with fair reward as well as training and retraining of trainers.
In addition, the number one citizen of the oil-rich state reiterated the need for parents and community leaders to see teachers as partners and not just service providers, saying that education is not only the duty of government or teachers alone but a shared responsibility.
The position of the governor on the shared responsibilities of parents, teachers and communities is apt, given the theme of this year’s celebration – “Recasting Teaching As A Collaborative Profession”. In the words of Barbara Colorose; “If kids come to us from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job easier. If they do not come from strong, healthy functioning families, it makes our job more important.” The much talked about leadership deficiency in Nigeria will remain unresolved until all stake-holders embrace education as a collaborative venture with a touch of patriotism and honesty.
In the light of the fore going therefore, the hitherto held view that teachers’ reward is in heaven must be jettisoned for a better option of appropriately sharing the reward responsibilities of teachers between the teachers and the other stakeholders. While it should be the responsibility of governments and the general public to reward and appreciate teachers on earth, it will remain the responsibility of teachers to find their ways to heaven for further reward appreciations from the Almighty.
But beyond the razzmatazz of celebrating teachers, employers of teachers at all levels must prioritise better remuneration for them, having been aptly described by Governor Oborevwori as men and women who stood daily in the frontline of knowledge. Teachers deserve better salaries for many reasons. At the primary school level, their financial comportments, usually reflecting on their appearances can go a long way into helping to shape the future of young Nigerians.
Covering the syllabi of pupils and students require that teachers must be on duty daily while also devoting ample time to marking assignments at home at odd hours. And these require adequate provisions for transport and other logistics which may not apply to the conventional public servants.
As the nation continues to witness cases of brutality against pupils and students, it has become imperative for teachers at these levels to continually be sent for trainings on the handling of learners of this group. The Montessori system of education as always presented by some private schools as their selling point must be embraced at the nursery and primary levels.
Though it may not be easy to bring back the system of raising Teachers through the teachers’ Training Colleges, planners of education should find space for ‘early education’ as a course in all the departments of education in higher schools.
Just like Delta state governor has demonstrated in his address during the celebration of Teachers’ Day in Asaba, all teachers in the country deserve to be equipped with modern teaching scientific tools that aid teaching and learning.
Again, any parent that aids and abet his child in cheating in external examinations like that of the First School Leaving Certificate, West African Examination Senior Secondary School and the one supervised by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, JAMB is the one guilty in the country’s education rot, not teachers.
On the whole, if the governments fulfill their parts of the bargain, teachers will have no options than to do their jobs efficiently with reward expectations from both heaven and the earth.
