The Nigerian Union of Teachers, Kogi State chapter has appealed to the state government to extend the retirement age of the members to 65 years.
The State Chairman of the NUT who made this appeal while speaking at a seminar organised by the State Universal Basic Education Board in Lokoja, stated that there is need for training and retraining of teachers in the state.
He explained that presently those that are going on retirement are those who had the best of training in those days when the standard of education was heightened.
He stated that the best brains in the teaching profession are wasting away due to early retirement from service, stressing that there is need for government to extend the retirement age of teachers just as it did in the case of university lecturers and those in the judiciary.
Abdullahi expressed worries that unlike in the past where core professional teachers were employed to teach in schools, stating that employments of teachers nowadays are done based on patronage thereby encouraging quackery.
He charged the state government to give adequate attention to the remuneration and welfare of teachers especially payment of minimum wage to teachers if it wants genuine restoration of the lost glory to public schools.
“There is no amount of workshops or seminars that can ginger teachers to perform if there is no adequate remuneration and motivation for them. We have well trained teachers in the state but until the issue of welfare is taken care, you cannot see effective results”, he said.
The chairman of the Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON) Dominic Ondeku also said the rate at which trained, active and productive teachers are retiring from service as a result of the 35 years service policy is alarming.
