The Coronavirus pandemic has arrived with its deadly impact
on virtually all sectors of the global economy. Nigeria has not been shielded
from these harsh impacts too. A national lockdown was declared in April that
seemed to have created a bleak future for citizens. Thank God, there has been a
gradual easing of the lockdown and things are beginning to pick up again.
While every sector of the economy seems to be getting back
on top of the lockdown situation, one sector that has remained under locks
until recently is the education sector. It’s been four months since schools
were shut. The teachers who service privately owned schools have been without
pay and no one seems to be concerned with their welfare or talking about it.
Private schools like every other business depend on the
financial flow from customers, this time, parents of pupils or student who
attend these schools. With students staying at home, the schools are left
without finance.
The largest employer of labour after the civil service in
Nigeria is private schools. You can check the statistics. With these teachers
having nothing to fend for their families with, a huge portion of Nigerian
citizens are been sidelined and are suffering without due considerations been
given to their welfare.
Teachers are now heading towards other profession because
they are fighting to keep body and soul. I’ve had rapport with several
teachers, and they tell me the obvious, they’d give up the teaching profession
if they get more attractive business opportunities in other business interests
they’ve had to jump into. And many are finding new opportunities every day.
Not many private schools can afford to pay the minimum wage.
These has not however stopped these teachers who work there from giving their
very best even under stringent working conditions. Now that this coronavirus
has exposed these teachers to difficult times, and government isn’t about to
rush the opening of schools, they need help.
Don’t be surprise to find schools without teachers when
schools finally reopen. Who would want to serve in a sector of the economy
where there are no benefits and where no considerations are given to their
welfare? It seems a helpless situation for school proprietors.
The teachers in the civil service have no problems. They are
glad to still be at home and would pray that schools continue to be shut. They
are the lucky ones as salary alerts drip in every month end. But their
counterparts in the private sector are praying and fasting for government to
reconsider the stance on school reopening.
Who will bail the cat? We’d naturally turn to the government
to offer bailout funds to private schools. They deserve a bail out else the
apocalypse that will result after this lockdown will bring aground the already
terrible education sector.
Let’s be sincere to ourselves, most major achievements in
the education sector have arrived from the private education sector. Government
hasn’t been proactive in developing public education system. Parents who wish
their children well have obviously found private schools as the rest room to
give their children an improved quality of education.
If our private school system fails, I see disaster in the
education system. I write as someone who has been through the divides attending
a government school and a private one. The difference was clear and it is still
clear today just as it was more than sixteen years ago.
Check the internet; you’d notice that private school
teachers obviously are the target for all sorts of business schemes. It’s now
common to find business adverts on Facebook such as “this business is for teachers”
or “are you a teacher bla, bla, bla”. Business people even mock private school
teachers reminding them their jobs have no life sustaining capacity in the
worst scenario. And this is no the doings of the private school teachers.
While we hope the private sector can be better regulated so
that teachers in the sector can have a comfortable lifestyle, one cannot give what
he does not have. Proprietors can only pay what they can afford within the
economic challenges that they face themselves.
State governments are busy making a fortune form taxes and
other statutory payments, and they care less about the financial status of the
schools. Running a school is serious business but it arrives with its sets of
challenges too and it can be financially tasking. This is why government has
found it difficult to manage her public schools.
Teachers and other workers in private schools are citizens
of this country. They deserve to be supported so that beyond this pandemic, we won’t
wake up to the collapse of the private schools system.
Save education, save Nigerian teachers, save the future.
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