The Plateau State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers on Thursday took to Jos streets to protest against plans to handover the funding and running of primary education to local governments.
The teachers, drawn from Plateau’s 17 local governments, held placards, some of which read: “No to hand over of primary schools to LGs”, and “Please leave primary schools under the state or federal governments”.
Gunshin Yarlings, their chairman, who spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria, said that the action was to sensitise relevant stakeholders to the dangers inherent in handing over the schools to local governments.
Yarlings said: “The agitation for local government autonomy will affect the funding and management of primary schools; we feel this will affect the stability of the schools.
“Local government authorities have proved to be poor managers of resources and we are sure that primary education and, in effect, the future of our children will suffer because teachers’ salaries and benefits of retirees will not be a priority.
“We are not against local government autonomy, but we are saying that teachers’ salaries should be excluded from the Local Governments Authorities. That should be handled by the state or federal government.”
The NUT chairman recalled that primary school teachers were not paid salaries for years, when they were placed under local governments, and warned against a return to the dark days.
Yarlings declared that local governments lacked the capacity to run and fund primary education effectively, saying that they should be allowed to handle only areas they could cope with.
– NAN