Standing With Teachers

Recently, the world marked  Teachers’ Day under the theme “Standing with Teachers: 60 Years of Protecting the Profession, Advancing Its Status and Shaping Our Futures.” The theme recalls the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation on the Status of Teachers, which asked governments to guarantee educators dignity, decent pay and safe working conditions. Six decades later, few countries have failed that test as visibly as ours. In Nigeria, standing with teachers has become a ritual of speeches delivered on the first Monday of October, after which the classroom returns to its familiar place at the bottom of the budget.
Consider the money. Education took 9.3 per cent of total government expenditure i...