Recently, the Nasarawa state governor, Abdullahi Sule, said that half of the over 4,200 teachers recruited through the back – door as against his earlier directive of 1000 teachers, were not qualified.

This is even as the chairman of the Bauchi state Universal Basic Education Board(SUBEB) Alhaji Adamu Mohammed Dugari expressed concern that while the state government is investing heavily in education, many teachers were not living up to their responsibilities.

Unfortunately, teacher qualification has become an issue as many state governments raise concerns regarding their ability to discharge their  duties

We recognise that the teacher is in all forms, the central figure in the development of any nation. They are supposed to be the pillar and life wire of human capital development and can make or mar the society when not properly treated and monitored.

An American professor emeritus of education, Dr. Ivan Welton, once said “The future  of the world is in my classroom today, a future with potential for good or bad.”

Former minister of state for Education, Prof Anthony Anwukah, said Nigeria was one of the very few countries in the world where people without teaching qualifications were found in classrooms.

Unfortunately, most teachers in the nation’s school system as exposed by recent investigations have been proved to be unable to  read and write as expected. Some were found to be unable to read even the textbook which they are supposed to use to teach their pupils.

In the circumstance, it is like a blind leading a fellow blind because teachers cannot give what they do not have and the reason why the standard of education is falling is because the foundation is weak.

Few years ago,  it was reported that more than 50 per cent of primary school teachers in Sokoto State could not read or write and similarly, a former chairman of Katsina State sub-committee on education, had declared that 11, 000 teachers in Katsina state were unqualified.

We recall that former governors  Mallam Nasir El- Rufai and Adams Oshiomhole of Kaduna and  Edo states, respectively, had a running battle with teachers in their states during their tenure.

When both governments wanted to give competency test to the teachers, the unions  resisted the move.

Instructively, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) chairman in Edo State, had noted that by placing the bulk of incompetence solely on teachers would probably be wrong as most of the teachers were hired because of their association with government officials or politicians notwithstanding their incompetence and disqualification.

Sadly, the pathetic aspect of this   is that many Nigerian children may have attended schools but turn out as illiterates not of their own making..

Indeed, there is a growing concern about the quality of  manpower in the teaching profession. Gradually, the reliability of recruited teachers is on the decline because the younger generation appears to be uninterested in taking up teaching as a profession.

We know that quite a number of teachers are in the classrooms because there are no other jobs out there

This is further strained by  the low enrolment of  students for National Colleges of Education (NCE) programmes, indicating that a lot of people are no longer looking to education as a vocation and a place to invest their career pursuit.

What this means, invariably,  is that the supply of teachers  in terms of career opportunities isn’t increasing, impacting negatively on the uptake of new and qualified teachers.

Conversely, we are appalled that despite having the great responsibility of moulding the future of Nigerian children,  the welfare package of the average  Nigerian teacher is among the worst in the public service..

It is not just that they operate with meager and irregular salaries, they are over used in the private schools, yet, they remain the scapegoat when standards come to question.

We know for a fact that many teachers are being employed in poorly founded and poorly remunerated private institutions where the only rule is the whim and arbitrariness of the sole proprietor.

As a result, teachers are getting much poorer deals. This becomes a challenge as teachers are no longer keen on waiting for their rewards in heaven. They want it here on earth..

Stakeholders in the education sector have severally posited that if the country can get it right in basic education where the foundations are laid, it would  get it right with the development of the citizens who constitute the sum total of what is called society.

Thus, the dearth of well trained teachers in the nation’s primary and secondary schools remains the most conspicuous factor in the quality of teaching and learning that is obtainable in the country.

The former chairman, National Human Rights Commission, Prof Chidi Odinkalu said  a successful education framework is premised on two things- a curriculum and teacher education.

According to him, the nature of the certificate does not actually make the teacher as teachers who went to the old teachers training colleges generally were fantastic.

We affirm that the quality of education when the country had the teacher grade 2 certificate as the basic qualification of teachers back then in education was high compared to what we have now where the basic qualification is supposed to be NCE or diplomas.

During President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration, there was a presidential directive to recruit, train and deploy 500,000 unemployed graduates and NCE holders to teach in primary schools.

The administration pledged to overhaul the entire teacher training process and ensure that in no distant future, nobody without proper certification as a teacher would be found in the classroom in the country

Towards this, a high level education stakeholders forum was convened in January 2016 in Abuja, to take a critical look at the issues of teacher education curriculum,and professionalisatiin  of teaching.

Unfortunately, that policy did not materialize as only 150,000 teachers were employed eventually through the N- Power programme while state governments looked away.

In our considered opinion, the solution to these problems must start with the three tiers of government because they are the ones that make policies and guidelines on education in the country.

The states and local governments should join hands with the federal government to build durable infrastructure in these schools.

It is lamentable, in our opinion,  that some states are unwilling to give their counterpart fund for the matching grant  in the Universal Basic Education Commission ( UBEC) and this has resulted in accumulation of un-accessed funds which run into billions of Naira.

And while there are huge funds available to provide infrastructure in schools, primary school children are studying in dilapidated or non-existent classrooms.

There is a compelling need for federal and state governments to have a total understanding and genuine purpose to improve education.

And for us, if there is to be an improvement in the entire education system, there must be an increase in the input into teacher training institutions so as to improve the capacity of the teachers.

If we want to improve  education at primary schools, the government must insist that well qualified teachers are hired and their salaries must be paid as at when due.

It’s often said that a teachers’ reward is in heaven. This reward-in-heaven cliché is the one reason many young school leavers run away from teaching profession.

We recognise that teachers rightly need heaven on earth. The inhuman treatment meted out on them despite their crucial role in both human and national development deserves attention.

If there is anything Nigeria needs to do is to. encourage young elegant minds who are into teaching and have the desire to become teachers by rewarding them here on earth before accessing the heavenly reward.

Governments at all levels should ensure that teachers are paid regularly and all other necessary benefits accruing to them made available as at when due.