A former Executive Secretary, National University Commission (NUC), Prof Peter Okebukola, has condemned the ill treatment meted out to teachers in the country, saying employers were treating teachers like “Libyan slaves”.
Okebukola who is the Pro-Chancellor, Crawford University, said this at the 9th Convocation Ceremony of the school on Thursday, Vanguard reported.
The don also called for punishment of any employer in the public or private sector found to be maltreating teachers.
He said, “We need to penalise, name and shame all employers, public and private, who treat teachers in Nigeria like ‘Libyan slaves’.
“Until the day when these five strategies I will mention are implemented, Nigeria’s education system will continue to grope in the dark and national development will fall deep into an abysmal pit.
“Over the last eight years, studies have shown conclusively that the master key which opens the intricate door to quality education is the teacher; the success story is the quality training and welfare of teachers.
“Our findings published has shown that if we engage quality teachers and provide good welfare scheme for them, more than half of the problems facing the education system would have been solved,’’ he said.
He identified Finland and Korea as countries who have prioritised teachers training and remuneration and are reaping the benefits.
Also, Okebukola lamented the lack of attention given education and agriculture courses in our universities.
To revamp the education sector, the university don said it was necessary to restructure the curriculum, suspend all sandwich programmes, do teachers recruitment, implement teachers’ salary scale and punish those that maltreat teachers.