TOO BAD! Abia teachers dying of hunger! [Photos]

“Many teachers in primary and secondary schools in Abia State are present­ly down with high blood pressure and stroke. Some have even died. The cause of the health challenges and deaths is the condition of things in the education sector in the state. We are not being paid; we are suffering. In fact, we are living in bondage.

And our salary is even less than what they pay in some states. For instance, a level 12 teacher in Abia earns the same thing with a level 10 teacher in Lagos State. If you ask, they tell you it is ‘Abia formula’. But the little they agreed to pay is not coming as at when due.

“We celebrated Nigeria’s 54th indepen­dence on empty stomach and there was no march-past; no teacher will agree to do that because he will fall down as a result of hunger. I wonder what happens in families where both husband and wife are teachers. Of course, such families will turn to beggars; they will depend on people to contribute food for them. We need grace. It is not funny at all. If not that teaching is a thing of con­science, nobody would want to teach in Abia because the treatment they are giving us is not encouraging at all. A garri seller is better than an Abia teacher now because, at the end of the day, you collect your money for what you sold. In Abia, uncertainty is our lot. The system is worse than mess.”
 

With these words, a secondary school teacher in the state, who identified himself simply as Boniface, bemoaned the precar­ious living condition of teachers and the prevailing circumstances in the schools. Ac­cording to him, “it could be said that primary and secondary school teachers in Abia State are endangered species. We are treated with disdain; we are accorded no respect at all. We are treated as if being a teacher is a crime in the state. We don’t know what we have done to the state government. We have never had it so bad. And the ugly state of affairs is taking its toll on teachers. Sometimes, the government will say that it has paid, but we won’t see anything. It is alleged that a high ranking official in the board, who hails from the governor’s hometown, puts the salaries in fixed deposit account for two months where the interests roll over. So, while they are making money, the teachers are dying in abject poverty.”

Indeed, these are certainly not the best of times for primary and secondary school teachers in Abia State, just like other cate­gories of civil servants in the state. Investi­gations revealed that teachers are not being paid as and when due. Checks revealed that while primary school teachers are owed three months salary, their counterparts in secondary schools have not been paid for four months as at the first week of October, this year.

A secondary school teacher, who spoke on condition of anonymity, disclosed: “I don’t understand what is going on in the educa­tion sector in Abia State. Teachers are not regarded or reckoned with. We are still bat­tling with June salary. Up till today, October 6, 2014, we have not received June salary. Any time they like, they will pay one-month salary. We may even end up collecting Sep­tember salary in December.”

He further said that promotion of teachers is a different kettle of fish. It was learnt that before this dispensation, teachers were pro­moted every three years but now it is four years. And even at that, the accruing bene­fits will be tampered with. “They manipulate things and shortchange you when you are eventually promoted,” a vice principal told the reporter.

Confusion

In one of his evergreen offerings, Afrobeat impresario and iconoclast, Fela Anikulapo Kuti, sings: Confusion break bone. This cer­tainly rings true for primary and secondary education in God’s Own State. In a manner of speaking, confusion has broken bone in the state. Put differently, there is confusion everywhere in the state.

Since the state government transferred some schools to their original owners, name­ly the missions, confusion reigns supreme. Schools were handed over to their former owners last term, but it became effective this term. It was learnt that government also transferred its financial commitment to the schools to the new owners. A vice principal said: “In Aba, for instance, almost half of the schools have been returned to churches and this has unsettled things because the action was neither well thought-out nor properly exe­cuted. The teachers are not comfortable in the mission schools and they were told to go away if they are not okay with the arrangement. So, what has happened is that, such teachers have now flooded the schools not under the control of churches. And they cannot afford to go to schools in the rural areas because such schools are not accessible; the roads are in such a de­plorable condition that going to such places as Ohanku, Owerre Aba, Ogbor Hill and Umuoji­ma is a herculean task. For that reason, the dis­placed teachers in the mission schools refused to go to the rural areas, thereby flooding the schools in the towns. There iws, therefore, no harmony in the schools set up. One school may have up to 20 English Language teachers while another one may have three.”

Some of the schools experiencing a glut of teachers include Abayi Girls Secondary School, Immaculate Heart Secondary School and Ngwa High School, all in Aba.

No teaching materials

It was gathered that teaching materials are not adequate, if at all. Hear this teacher: “During exams, it is the teachers that buy ma­terials for practical subjects. We buy the speci­men for the practicals because the government does not care about such things. The class­rooms remain what they have been for some time. In fact, they are deteriorating because of lack of maintenance. For now, our main con­cern is how to feed ourselves. We are talking about how to eat; nobody is talking about in­frastructural development or chairs.

“Some of the students bring their person­al lockers to school. In some schools where the Parents Teacher Associations (PTAs) are strong, they provide benches that can accom­modate four students. This government has not done anything in that direction. At least, we have not seen any such thing in our school. Officially, the schools are tuition-free but the students pay what they call government levy. ”

It was also gathered that the non-indigene teachers who were laid off not too long ago by the state government have not been paid their entitlements. One of the sacked teachers said: “They went on the internet organising kanga­roo reinstatement exercise. They are telling the world that they have called us back but that is a lie from the pit of hell. I don’t know the mo­dalities they adopted. Most of my colleagues who had the same problem with me are still perambulating, doing nothing. They brought a few of us back to paint a different picture of the situation on ground but it is all falsehood. Worse still, some of those that were recalled are at the mission schools where their future is uncertain because the new owners are recruit­ing their own personnel.”

Recall that the state government disengaged thousands of civil servants for the simple rea­son that they are not indigenes. Most of the sacked workers are teachers in primary and secondary schools across the state.

It was also gathered that the teachers were compelled to buy computers from the state government at N130,000 each. A source said: “The computers are not the best in terms of quality. The mode of payment is that N5,000 is deducted from salaries every month. And most of the teachers are not computer literate. Instead of training them first, they were compelled to buy the computers before learning how to use them. It’s like putting the cart before the horse. Again, why would you buy for them or force a particular product from a particular source on them? If you want every teacher to own a com­puter, you should have allowed them to make their choice. There are thousands of teachers in Abia State, so you know what it means to buy a computer at N130,000 per teacher. How much do they sell a computer of that grade in the market?”

Many of the teachers are disenchanted with the development. “I don’t know why I should be asked to buy a computer when I already have one. Moreover, my computer is better than the one they are forcing on us in terms of quality. They are not paying but they are al­ways devising ways of making life more diffi­cult for us,” Ngozi, a teacher, lamented.

Classrooms in ruins

Most of the infrastructures in public schools in Abia State are in shambles. The common features are broken roofs, crumbling walls and unplastered or damaged floors. Over­grown weeds or wild plants define many of the schools, thereby putting the lives of the stu­dents in danger.

“We kill snakes in our school all the time. Before the long vacation, a huge snake was found coiled inside a classroom. The children hardly go out to play because they are afraid of dangerous reptiles,” a teacher said.