Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara state on Wednesday joined the global community to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day 2022 , calling teachers in the state the centerpiece of his administration’s transformation agenda in the education sector and reassuring them of government’s continued commitment to their welfare — including addressing all pending issues in phases.
At an event organized by the state government to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day 2022 in Ilorin, the state capital , not less than 61 teachers — drawn from every part of the state and across different stages of education — got awards of excellence.
The governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Mr Rafiu Ajakaye in a statement made available to Team@orientactualmags.com on Wednesday noted that the awards came with varying expensive gifts, which the Governor called a token of appreciation for those, who had continued to mould the future of the next generation with their sweats, expertise, and patience.
In an address punctuated by applause and followed by a standing ovation in appreciation of the steady progress in the sector, the Governor said: ‘If there is anyone that we are obliged to honour and celebrate, that is the teacher. On this note, I thank all of you for your efforts, sacrifices, and commitments.
The World Teachers’ Day is the idea of UNESCO in line with the 1966 Recommendations on the Status of Teachers across the world.
The theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day speaks directly to us in Kwara state. Our huge investments in the education sector are closely tied to teachers and school heads. You are the key drivers of the transformation that we seek. As we commit billions of naira to improve the learning environment, we are similarly funding the multibillion naira KwaraLEARN programme which seeks to improve the capacity of our teachers and boost learning outcomes for our children.
Between 2019 and now, we have ensured prompt payment of salaries — unlike before. The implementation of the minimum wage has raised the size of what we take home every month. We have similarly reduced the backlogs of promotion arrears. Training and retraining is more constant today. For those at the basic schools, we are already addressing the disparities in the salary as we recently pointed out. More will be done to address your genuine concerns.
But we need to do a lot more. For this reason, our administration is willing to adopt the FG’s new age limit and service years for teachers once it is passed to us. Next year, we will launch an annual teachers’ award to boost the morale of classroom teachers and administrators. Similarly, we will collaborate with relevant Federal Government’s agencies to ease home ownership for interested teachers. Details of this are being worked out.
Dear teachers, I appreciate your sacrifices. I acknowledge that our plan to give the right foundation to the Kwara child can only succeed with your full buy-in. I therefore appeal to you to continue to do your best for humanity and for our state. Posterity will be kind to you’ he said.
The Governor again had a no-holds-barred interactive session with the teachers, where the latter commended his strides in the sector and urged him to bridge the pay gaps between teachers at junior and secondary schools in the state.
Dignitaries that attended the event included Kwara House of Assembly Speaker, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Salihu Danladi; Deputy Speaker Hon. Raphael Adetiba and other state lawmakers; cabinet members; Permanent Secretary, Ministry or Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs. Mary Adeosun; Chairman Teaching Service Commission Taoheed Bello; NLC Deputy President Alhaji Najeem Yasin; State NLC Chairman Comrade Issa Ore; State PTA Chairman and First Makama Ilorin Alhaji Ibrahim Oniye; and State NUT leaders and members, among others.
Adeosun appreciated the Governor for uniquely holding an event in honour of the teachers in the state on this year’s celebration and for prioritizing their welfare at all times.
She described the presentation of awards to the teachers as a reflection of the Governor’s regard for teaching profession and his conviction that teachers play an important role in building the society while asking them to reciprocate the government’s kind gesture with higher performance.
Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Kwara state, Comrade Oyewo Bashiru Ayinde paid glowing tributes to the governor’s commitment to the education sector, workers’ welfare, and urged him to do more.
“Here in Kwara state, we are proud to assert that the Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration has made some remarkable improvements in the transformation of the education sector and welfare/working conditions of our teachers when compared to the situation that obtained prior to his becoming the Governor’ he said.
“Although it is not yet uhuru, we wish to use this occasion to further encourage the state government to work extra hard in meeting the pending/unresolved demands of the teachers’ he added.
Professor Billy Olajide, a university Don, who was the Keynote Speaker, commended the sacrifices of the teachers, urging them to come together, work very hard, and justify the huge funds going into the education sector.
‘Teachers should come together, teachers should work very hard and justify huge funds going into education sector so that the government can listen to us. We thank God we have a listening Governor. He has demonstrated it here today and hope you will justify it.
Today, the teaching profession is more elegant and appealing but there’s a problem because teachers are not united’ he submitted-Team@orientactualmags.com Do you have any information you wish to share with us? Do you want us to cover your event or programme? Kindly send SMS to 08059100286, 09094171980. Thank you
