President Muhammadu Buhari has said that his administration will provide vibrant policies that will provide allowances and initiate annual retention benefits for teachers in order to attract them to rural communities.
Buhari, who was represented by the Attorney General of the Federation, Justice Abubakar Malami made this known in Abuja on Saturday at the 2019 World Teachers’ Day Celebration.
He also said the Federal Government would collaborate with the states with a view to providing incentives to teachers, especially in the rural areas to encourage young talents to the teaching profession, NAN reports.
“It has been stated that teachers are one of the most influential forces for equity, access and quality in education, this administration places much emphasis on Human Capital Development.
“We shall give more attention to training and re-training of teachers in order to enhance their capacities for effective service delivery,”he said.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu said the theme of the 2019 WTD was progressively addressing some of the fundamental issues of teachers and education generally in the country.
Adamu, who was represented by the Minister of State, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, said to revitalise the sector, there was need to unleash potentials for socioeconomic development.
He noted that revitalising the sector had given rise to the development of the Ministerial Strategic Plan, adding that the process was on course.
“Besides strengthening institutional framework in the educational system, a number of steps have been taken to increase access, which is the increase in the number of tertiary institutions.
“The numbers of these universities is an improvement over what it used to be.
“Let us bear in mind that central to expanding access to these instructions are the young teachers who have lecturering in them, hence the urgent need to invest in young teachers.
He also commended the efforts of the Teachers’ Registration Council of (TRCN) in pursuit of teachers’ professionalism through registration and licensing of teachers in a bid to strengthen teacher quality.
Adamu added that the ministry had also endorsed the Safe Schools Declaration, saying that steps were taken to implement the commitment made through the declaration .
“Over the years, educational institutions have become targets, ranging from kidnappings, killings, arson, vandalism and hooliganism.
“Conflict and natural disasters have also led to schools being closed down and converted to camps for Internally Displaced Persons thereby disrupting schooling,” he said.
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