•NUT seeks Hardship Allowance
•Proprietors, others devise ingenious ways to survive
As schools resume for the 2024/2025 academic session across the nation from tomorrow, the economic and social dislocation caused by last week hike in the pump price of petrol is causing panic among school owners, parents, teachers and students.
Findings by Sunday Vanguard show that some private school owners are confused on how to cope with the rise in the cost of doing business, as the price hike came after they have given parents what they would pay as fees for the new session and there is the possibility of resistance by parents to any addition to the bill just days to resumption.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited, NNPC Ltd, increased petrol pump price from N580 per litre to N855.
The development triggered outrage in various sectors as the product is now sold for between N900 and N1, 200 per litre in many parts of the country.
Part-time appointments
As the cost of living has been on the rise and many private schools finding it difficult to pay living wages to teachers, a new trend is emerging among private school teachers – they are now opting for part-time appointments, especially in core subject areas such as English Language, Mathematics, and Sciences.
The development is denying many of affected schools competent hands to teach such subjects, while there are many vacancies in public schools yet to be filled.
One of such teachers, who simply gave his name as Gabriel, said he joined the fray when he saw that sticking to one school would not be of any advantage to him.
“I teach Mathematics and Further Mathematics and I won’t say the trend is new, but I can say it is on the increase now”, Gabriel told Sunday Vanguard at the weekend.
“The reason is simple. Most private schools are not paying much. If you ask for a pay rise, you may be labeled something else. Although some parents are owing fees too and school owners are under pressure.
“What I do is that I take two lessons per week in the subjects and I have them arranged in a way that the classes don’t clash. Also, I am always ready to go the extra mile by spending extra minutes, especially when the classes are close to break period or closing time.
“Proprietors who know the quality of what I teach don’t mind me as a part-time teacher. I make more money and have some kind of freedom to do other things and not being tied to a school”.
Complaint galore
On their part, teachers in public schools who cannot afford to work on part-time basis are not finding the situation funny. Only days ago, Lagos State government announced that it would allow workers in its employ to work from home at least two days in a week, except those in critical sectors.
A teacher in one of the state-owned secondary schools in the state, Akinleye, other names withheld, said teachers would not benefit from such a gesture.
“We go to school every day. That kind of consideration is not meant for us. Some people may say we do have holiday periods in the course of the session, but the holidays are more or less like our going on annual leave”, Akinleye said.
“However, most people don’t know that even during holiday, we sometimes attend seminars, prepare for resumption and do other things that one may not really spend all the days at home.
“Another factor is that many teachers are not serving close to where they live. It is not like your school is here and your home is in the backyard. Commuting daily from home to school is costly.
“You asked about the ‘Teacher Buses’. How many of them do you find on the road now? Most are grounded. When the BRT scheme started, some buses were deployed to ferrying civil servants, including teachers, but those buses are gradually reducing in number now”.