Long road to addressing teachers’ shortage in Nigeria

In recent years, there has been outcry over shortage of teachers globally, and Nigeria is not left out.

In the case of Nigeria, it is facing a critical shortage of qualified teachers to man its primary and secondary schools in both urban and rural areas.

This lack of enough trained educators to meet the needs of the students, especially in the rural areas where resources are scarce has continued to be the bane of quality learning as most schools have to do with unqualified persons to man the available schools.

The shortage of teachers has been attributed to poor salaries, welfare, poor working materials and environment, poor recognition among others.

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This is against what was obtainable in the past where teachers were respected and honoured in the society.

An educator,  Dr Rasheedat Sadiq said in the past, the teachers were respected in the community.

“If you said you were a teacher, students would volunteer to do things in the teacher’s homes and parents would bring things from their farms to the teachers to show appreciation, they were next to the clergymen then,” she said.

Dr Sadiq said: “Now, If you ask an average class of children, What do you want to be In future when you grow up in the nursery and the lower primary sections, you might get 10  say they want to be teachers but once they get to junior secondary, you’re getting zero because they see the life the teachers live and it’s not enviable”.

She said now they are having the influencers, musicians and footballers that are making crazy amount of money without necessarily putting in the work, adding that teachers need to be recognised and honoured.

 Shortage of teachers

UBEC (2024) survey indicated that there is a shortage of 194,876 teachers in public primary schools across the country.

It had earlier stated that Nigeria has shortage of 277, 537 teachers at the basic level.

The commission stated that the reports from the field revealed an alarming manpower crisis where some primary schools in the country are barely manned by one or two teachers, leaving the pupils to suffer learning poverty with a bleak future ahead. 

 Dr Sadiq said Nigeria is facing not just shortage of teachers but shortage of qualified teachers.

She said many factors are responsible,which include the fact that a lot of people that are teaching just happened to find themselves in the field because the jobs are not available.

“For most of such teachers, it’s a stop gap. So, they’re actively looking for other places to go and when they find those opportunities, they don’t hesitate to drop the job and go to where their hearts is,” she said.

Another factor responsible for the shortage of teachers, according to her is the pay. “Teachers pay is relatively low and the economy is getting harsher and these are low wages with high expectations.

”You spend time on your feet,  you’re talking, thinking and directing children and yet you’re not getting paid enough. Also, you take work home. So, a lot of teachers are either staying back to mark books or they are taking the books and papers home to mark. They’re preparing lesson plans in their houses and instructional materials in their free time. So, it’s a lot of work, which is not commensurate to the amount of pay that teachers generally get,” she said

Dr Sadiq further noted that lack of appreciation is another factor, saying, “Everybody wants to be appreciated for what they do and teachers make a lot of sacrifice but more time we find entitled parents and entitled students.

“The teachers do a lot to try to pass on the knowledge to the children, but the children do the best minimum. And then you have their parents coming to complain about why the child is failing and you have  leaders in the school almost wanting to force the teachers to cheat for the children so that the name of the school is rated high, and this still affects the behaviour and the commitment of the children. So, the teachers have a thankless job and there’s no incentive to stay for some people that don’t mind,” she said.

”There is also the resources to work with. So you’re willing to give your all, but even in some schools, something as little as chalk is not available and  chairs for the learners to sit are missing. All of these affect the students and the teachers, that is why a lot of teachers are leaving the profession,” she added.

The Chairman of Micray Progressive School, Michael Sule said shortage of qualified teachers is a big problem because only people who fail to secure their desired jobs are trying their hands on teaching now.

If you go to some public schools, especially in the rural areas you see teachers that cannot read well teaching so what can they pass to the children,

“The problem has remained poor salaries, welfare and respect for the profession, many teachers are poor and have become a nuisance in the society so no one will want to follow such a step,” he said.

He said in schools now, students can hardly mention teachers as their role models. They rather call doctors , engineers and musicians as the case may be.

The ‘Japa’ syndrome

it is no longer news that  Nigeria has more teachers leaving the country than in other fields.

While this remains a big concern to the teaching profession and the country at large, many teachers have also expressed interest in leaving for better offers.

A teacher, Sophia Emmanuel said there is no one who will not take the opportunity to better their life if that comes.

She said a lot of teachers are doing so many things to improve just to get the required qualifications to leave Nigeria. 

“I know two of my friends who left because they teach music and use of instruments and they got offers and were doing online teaching until a bigger offer that took them out of the country came.”

She maintained that Nigerian teachers are leaving and will continue to leave because they lack all they need in the country and also get little rewards, so when a big one comes, they jump at it.

”Already, we have less hands because in some schools, you have one teacher teaching one subject from SS1 to SS3 and each class will have close to 100 and more students, how can you expect quality learners at the end?,” she asked.

Dr Sadiq said a lot of teachers are leaving and it’s affecting the best of their hands.

”Currently, there is a programme that the UK is running, where they give qualified teacher status to our science teachers. So, if you are a chemistry, physics or math teacher, you can get qualified teaching status in the UK just by applying, you don’t have to do anything extra and if you apply, they go through your documents that you have an education degree and you have some  years of experience, they’ll give you that status,” she said.

She said that they are able to seek jobs outside the country and a lot of teachers are getting it.

“A lot of them are leaving the shores of the country, to go to the UK, Gulf and Arab countries. A lot of Nigerians are teaching there. Now in Japan, We have many teachers going to teach English and some other subjects in Japan. So, there is that brain drain also in the teaching field and it is real.

“Another thing that teachers are doing, which is making them leave the classrooms, is to go online. So why would I, as a teacher, spend 40 hours a week at a school and probably get paid N80 000, a month, when I can stay in my house, teach a child who lives in the U.S or UK and get paid for less hours or more. So, the teachers are leaving the classroom in Nigeria to teach virtually to students and learners, who are outside the country. And some of them are actually physically moving out of the country.”

Dr Sadiq said this is the trend even in other African countries, adding that there is a need to really appreciate our teachers and step up the pay to help them stay.

Recall that the Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, recently disclosed that Nigeria’s education sector has lost more manpower than what has been recorded in the medical sector.

He said: “The most effective instrument of development of any nation is the education sector. That’s why developed countries like Canada, America, Germany, and several others are rushing our best brains in the teaching profession in addition to the medical sector.

“Many Nigerians might not know or it will be surprising to them to hear that we have lost more manpower in the teaching profession to foreign interests than the manpower that we have lost in medical personnel. This is because their skills are crucial to the development of any country.

“So, we have to take urgent actions to fix the identified challenge, otherwise, we would have a long way to go if we fail to get the education sector right. But that won’t happen because we are determined to fix the challenge, and we would achieve the target goal leveraging the support we have been receiving from the president.”

How to address teachers shortage

Dr Sadiq said addressing the teachers shortage has to do with first of all, trying to get teachers paid adequately, get them resources and materials that will help them effectively do their jobs.

She also said teachers should be recognised and appreciated as well as honoured. as done in the past.

“I’m not saying that we need to give them gifts, no but if teachers are well paid, we don’t need extra gifts or modes of appreciation from the children, we  will be motivated to do our jobs for just the honour and recognition,” she said.

She said they need to be able to raise teachers to that status where they will be role models and that would also entice more people to come into the field.

”In Finland, we are told that they employ the best hands, masters holders and first class holders are the ones that teach. So anybody that is a teacher, is someone that is aspired to  be. Once you’re a teacher and people aspire to be like you, people  will want to go into the field,” she said.

”So recognition, improved pay and  resources is something we can do to stop the shortage or to block the shortage and get more people to come into the field. Also, introduction to the latest product materials can’t help the teacher but training for the teachers will make them feel valued and help them understand their place in the society and hopefully stay in the schools,” she added.

For Sule, uplifting the status of teachers and giving them their right place is the only way to stop them from leaving the classrooms.

He said when teachers are respected and paid well, people will go back to the profession and the competition will work in addressing the learning crisis as it is only the best hands that will be employed as teachers.