Dear Nigerian teachers, stakeholders. The date, October 5th, since 1994, has been designated as World Teachers Day by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO. The World Teachers Day historically springs from the 1966 recommendation, a standard-setting instrument that addresses the status and situations of teachers around the world, and that was signed by both the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the UNESCO.

On this date (October 5th), your importance as teachers should once again be brought to the fore and appreciated. It is a day that both parents and leaders in society should reflect on the roles you play daily, particularly in the lives of pupils and students alike from the pre-school to the kindergarten, primary, and then secondary levels of education; and even in the lives of adults in the tertiary institutions of learning.

For parents, it is a day wherein they should reflect on the roles you play, as earlier stated, in the lives of their children that are placed under your tutelage, thus making you to adopt the status of a guardian in custody of their wards, trusted to not only improve on their intellectual wellbeing of reasoning in a positive and progressive manner, but also in enforcing discipline inorder to inculcate good moral values in them.

For leaders, they should reflect on the important place you occupy in society and in the nation at large. Without your inputs, they (leaders) would not be qualified to ascend the platform of public office to lead the people or serve their needs, and the citizens at large would not also be able to experience growth or make progress economically if majority of them are not equipped intellectually to contribute to the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, of the country.

Sadly, while your profession as a teacher is one of the most important in the world, you are however not given your true place of honour and identity here in Nigeria. Instead, your profession is relegated to the background and taken for granted, particularly by the major stakeholder—the government. Many of you, especially those in the rural coastal areas, have had to deal with not only the lack of adequate learning materials, but substandard infrastructures as well as you struggle to make the most of scarce resources at your disposal.

In addition to the plight you face in executing your noble job, you have also had to deal with low pay grade on such a sensitive profession. Compare to the pay other professions receive, particularly politicians, you are far way behind. Meanwhile, the foundation of all progressive societies is laid on education. Is there any country or nation in the world that does not profit from education? It is through your noble profession that the digital world we live in today was made possible. Modern technological invention has its foundation in education. This is the reason why advanced countries of the world invest so much in education, especially in Research and Development, R&D, because educational institutions are seen as a launch pad to spur virgin minds to make positive discoveries across all spheres of human existence to improve lives.

Yes, the lack of government and even the private sector's attention has forced some of you to engage in side hustles to meet up with inflation in society that has made the cost of living very high. Sadly too, these side hustles have reared their ugly heads in your profession within as evidenced by examination malpractices some of you engage in, the imposing of illegal fees on pupils and students, and the conduct of extra lessons as you cut corners to cash out big time in the pariah educational system in Nigeria.

And talking of the decadence in our educational system, unfortunately you cannot be exempted from the rot in the system. Right under your noses, pupils and students have been initiated into cultism, the poor attention you give to pupils and students in the teaching profession is leading to their poor performance and high failure rate, while immoral values are springing up because you have failed to wave the big stick of discipline. Some of you have also become lazy and incompetent to practice that noble profession, contributing to the degradation of the foundation of education. Yes, there are teachers who cannot spell and write well, yet they are in the four walls of a classroom. How absurd!

Just as there are bad teachers, so too there are also good teachers. And to these we all should stand up for. And to these teachers I doff my hat as we mark World Teachers Day. I am what I am today because of your uprightness in taking me through the rigours of the educational process. I therefore thank all of my teachers from my kindergarten and primary school years, to those who tutored me in my secondary as well as tertiary institution. But I reserve the highest of my gratitude to those teachers in my foundational years, because without them laying that solid foundation in me, the product of what I am today would never have surfaced.

I therefore join all well-meaning Nigerians and lovers of education all over the world to adjudicate for a better welfare package for teachers, with special attention given to those that are teaching in the rural coastal areas in Nigeria. With all sense of honour, teachers ought to be the highest earner in the country. They are the foundation and the reason for success in society. I also call on African leaders of all strata, particularly in Nigeria, to rise above the rhetorics of dishing out praises on long speeches, but should demonstrate that they appreciate the important roles that teachers play by doing the needful expected of them.

Let me end this discourse with a quote from Tayo Ogunbiyi in the Ministry of Information and Strategy, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos State, when he said: "A society that refuses to empower teachers will only be promoting ignorance. Ultimately, the price that a nation might have to pay for encouraging ignorance almost often exceed what it needs to do to uphold education." 

Happy World Teachers Day to all the qualified and noble teachers out there. You are the true hero of our Nation. God bless you all, Amen.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Abai Francis is the CEO/Brand Director of PENGlobal Associates Limited (PAL) | 08037449157

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