Parents to protest seven-month teachers’ strike in Plateau

Parents in Plateau State are set to hit the streets over the non-resolution of the seven-month-old strike embarked upon by teachers in the state over government’s inability to pay the new minimum wage of N18,000.
The teachers under the aegis of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Plateau State Council, embarked on strike in March, this year to demand the implementation of the N18,000 minimum wage.
Speaking on the strike, Chairman, Plateau State Chapter of the Parent Teachers’Association, Mr Sylvester Yakubu, said that many parents had been forced to enrol their children into private schools.
Yakubu said parents would soon take to the streets to force government to take steps to end the strike.
The PTA chair pointed out that the future of the children was “on the brink of collapse’’, particularly those in the last years of primary school and those seeking to enrol in public schools.
“Schools have resumed but nobody knows the fate of those in primary six since they did not write the common entrance examinations because of the strike. As parents, we will not fold our hands and continue to wait until the two warring parties decide to call a truce while the future of our children is in jeopardy,” he said.
Yakubu faulted suggestions that there was no need for primary six pupils to worry over admission to JSS 1 as there were plans to give them automatic admission.
“If not for the decay in our educational system, how can you place a child, who did not sit for any promotion examination and have been at home for seven months, into JSS 1. How can such pupil perform effectively if placed into JSS 1?,” he asked.
However, Plateau State Commissioner for Education, Mr Nanle Dashen, said that primary six pupils were already being admitted into JSS 1.
Dashen explained that with the nine-year basic education system, primary six pupils did not need to write common entrance examination before they could be admitted into JSS 1.
He added that the transition from primary six to JSS1 was automatic as it was a continuation of the nine-year basic education system being handled by the Universal Basic Education Board.
“With the present system, it is compulsory for the child to transits up to JSS 3.
“As he transits, all his shortfalls are noted by the teacher who will remedy them by way of curricular adjustment,“ he said.
The commissioner, however, expressed optimism that the issues would be resolved soon.
“The state government has already set up an 11-man elders’ committee to resolve the issues. The committee is already discussing with all stakeholders and we shall agree on the grey areas,” he said.
Chairman, Plateau State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Mr Gunshin Yarlings, however, disagreed with the commissioner as he vowed that primary school pupils would remain at home until teachers’ grievances were addressed.
“We are not asking for anything new; we only want to be paid the N18,000 minimum wage like any other worker in Nigeria. That is not too much to ask for,” he said.
Some of the schools have been taken over by weeds while many parents have enrolled their children in private schools.