Unease as more teachers die from Boko Haram attacks

The attacks on schools in the troubled North East by insurgents have continued to deplete the ranks of teachers in the country,
Like soldiers, school teachers in the northeastern part of the country, particularly in Borno State, are currently fighting to save their lives. Armed with nothing but their legs, the teachers face imminent extermination unless the Federal Government takes a drastic action to make their work environment safe.

In fact, the revelation, last week, by the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, that no fewer than 170 teachers in the state had lost their lives to the Boko Haram insurgents this year alone has again exposed the dangerous circumstances under which the nation’s builders work.

Apart from the deluge of deaths, Okonjo-Iweala noted that the insurgents had razed 80 primary schools in Borno State, and destroyed no fewer than 300 educational facilities in Adamawa, Borno and Yobe states.

Prior to this time, primary and secondary school teachers in the country, numbering more than a million, had battled the Federal Government over sundry issues, such as poor work conditions and paltry remunerations.

Across the states also, the non-uniform implementation of the Teachers Salary Scale has been another sore issue bothering many stakeholders and analysts. But, many teachers and concerned Nigerians who spoke with our correspondent on Thursday, noted that the death of teachers in the hands of terrorists was one occupational hazard too many.

Describing the killings of the teachers as barbaric, the President, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr. Michael Alogba, called on the Federal Government to establish a social welfare scheme for the dependents of the fallen teachers.

According to Alogba, teachers in Borno State have fled from the rural areas of the state to Maiduguri, the state capital, thereby abandoning their pupils in a quest to save their own lives. This development, analysts fear may worsen statistics in the number of out-of-school pupils in the country, which the United Nations Children’s Fund put at 10.5 million.

Alogba said, “It is saddening, it is brutish. It is a monumental loss to the profession. Even with or without insurance, morally, it behoves the state apparatus to take up the responsibility of the dependents of the fallen heroes. The government should establish a social welfare scheme that will cushion the effect of this tragedy on the dependents. Again, there is the need for the amelioration of the losses. Besides, there should be the strengthening of security within and around our schools.

“We have taken it up with the state government concerned but we have yet to get a response from them. Look at Maiduguri; the city nowadays has so many people, but in the adjourning communities and villages, there are no teachers now.’’

Commentng on the situation, an education consultant, Dr. Segun Omisore, submitted that the “teaching environment has now become endangered.’’

He noted that teachers were a crucial part of the academic community and should not be sacrificed or overlooked.

“Teachers are largely unheard in this country. When the government was talking about security, they were talking in terms of the pupils and schools as if teachers were supermen. Indeed, we are supermen intellectually. But the fact is that teachers are not well taken care of in this country.

“We should do whatever it takes to make teachers look forward to going to work every morning. There is the need to have a holistic approach to the issue. We need to do an appraisal of who a teacher is. There should be an insurance scheme in place for teachers,’’ he said.

Another education consultant, Mr. Nelson Ayodele, while supporting Omisore, however noted that there was the need to offer teachers and politicians equal security opportunities. He also demanded full compensation for the families of the dead teachers.

Ayodele said, “Teachers are well remunerated and respected outside the shores of the country. I will like government to take security for the teachers serious and make schools safe. Just as government secures ministers, schools, pupils and teachers should have equal security.”

The Public Relations Officer to the Minister of State for Education, Mr. Simeon Nwaukudu, confirmed this as well in a telephone interview with our correspondent on Thursday. Indeed, Nwaukudu confirmed the indefinite shutting down of 12 schools in the state since last year.

He however, said most of the teachers affected belonged to the state government.

“The majority of the affected teachers work with the state government. The teachers working at the Federal Unity College within the area have insurance. About 12 schools were shut down last year to protect the lives of the teachers and their pupils and they were relocated to Bauchi and Maiduguri areas. That is why you did not hear of any kidnap.

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