World Teachers’ Day: Buhari raises service year from 35 to 40, retirement age 60 to 65
Posted by FN Editor | 4 years ago | 1,198 times
President Buhari
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved a special salary scale and new retirement age for teachers. The president’s gesture, which was announced Monday, by the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, was in commemoration of the World Teachers Day.
The president increased the number of service years for the teachers from 35 to 40.
Buhari, at the 2020 World Teachers Day celebration in Abuja, explained that the implementation of the new teachers’ salary scheme was to encourage the teachers in delivering better services.
The special salary scale, the president said, is for basic and secondary school teachers. The president also increased the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65, and the number of service years from 35 to 40.
According to him, these were parts of ongoing moves by the government to revitalize and reposition the teaching profession in the country, by introducing what he described as “fundamental and far-reaching changes.”
The president said a review of teachers’ development policies had revealed huge gaps in quantity and quality of teachers at all levels of the nation’s education system.
Also, the status and statute of teachers were currently at their lowest ebb. Buhari said the implementation of the new policies was to attract best brains into the teaching profession and encourage teachers in delivering better services that would produce quality students who would, in turn, contribute to national development.
In his words: “Government notes the emergency situation in our educational system with particular reference to the dearth of qualified and dedicated teachers to enhance the quality of teaching and learning at all levels of our educational system.
“To address these challenge yes and set our country on the path of industrialization where our educational system will produce the needed skills and manpower, I have approved to the following;
“The reintroduction of bursary award to education students in Universities and College of Education with assurance of automatic employment upon graduation, payment of stipends to Bachelor of Education students as well as granting them automatic employment after graduation is now a government policy.
“The Tertiary Education Fund (TETFUND) will now fund teaching practice in Universities and Colleges of Education, special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools including provisions for rural posting allowance, science teachers allowance and peculiar allowance.
“Special teacher pension scheme to enable the teaching profession retain its experienced talent as well as extend teachers retirement age to 65 years and teachers service years to 40, create a career path policy for teaching profession in Nigeria and, teachers conversion programme and ICT training to mitigate the current dearth of qualified teachers in the school system.”
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