Adamawa – Adamawa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has raised the alarm that no single State’s primary school teacher has been promoted in the the last 14 years, alleging that the teachers are still been paid the old minimum wage of N18000.
The Executive Chairman of the Board, Dr Salihi Ateequ, made the shocking frevelations in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Monday in Yola, the State’s capital,
The Chairman lamented that it was unfortunate that primary school teachers in the state were yet to start enjoying the minimum wage of ₦32,000.
“Primary school teachers in the state have not been promoted for the past 14 years and it is very demoralising.
“Also, primary school teachers are currently being paid with old minimum wage of ₦18,000 instead of new minimum wage of ₦32,000 like their counterparts in the state civil service,” Ateequ said.
He said the fundamental issues facing education in the state were inherited from the previous administrations.
He described the situation as ‘terrible’, saying that many teachers had been working for 14 years with some already retired or dead without being promoted.
“We all know the present administration of Gov. Ahmadu Fintiri came to power on 29 May, 2019. He inherited the stagnant promotion of primary school teachers.
” The board sat down, analysed the situation and finally took decision to advice the government on how to over come and solve the tragic condition.
“We took the data of all those who are supposed to be promoted and upgraded for the past 14 years; we found that the amount involved is enormous,” the chairman said.
He, however, said the board had advised the state government to consider the payment in batches to gradually reduce the burden.
He said the government was advised to pay for four years at once and another four years in block, adding that within a short period all the amount will be paid.
He said the challenge must be addressed to prevent the collapse of primary school education in the state.
“Similarly, the issue of minimum wage, primary school teachers in the state are not included and the case was channeled to the state Head of Civil Service.
“The Board needs extra N3 million to add to its monthly N15 million subvention, making it ₦18 million to pay the minimum wage of the teachers.
“We have over 4,000 teachers and almost all of them need promotion and in 2021 we promoted staff of the Board.
“Our primary responsibility is to see basic education run smoothly and primary school teachers are taken care of,” he said.
NAN recalls that in July 2021, the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) expressed concern over the low morale and poor welfare package for teachers in Adamawa.
The Education Specialist, UNICEF Field Office, Bauchi, Mairama Dikwa, made the observation during the inauguration of Technical and Vocational Education training programme in Hong Local Government Area of the state.
She said that in spite of the achievements recorded in some areas such as high pupils enrolment and building classrooms, there were still some areas such as inadequacy of teachers to be addressed. (NAN)
