It has been revealed that the Lagos State Government appears over time to be unfair with its teachers.
You would recall that the Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni had recently announced in a released statement that all private and public schools in the State must resume for the 2nd term 2021/2022 academic session on Tuesday January 4th, 2022 as against Monday 10th January, 2022.
The new resumption date has been seen in several quarters as an unfair treatment to teachers in the state who had all been set for the January 10th date.
An interview with the headteacher of one of the public primary schools who pleaded to remain anonymous, revealed that most teachers in his school had travelled out of the state for holidays and he had to start making calls to those he could reach and leave messages for others about the new resumption date.
Another teacher who also pleaded to remain anonymous said “At the moment, I am confused, my mind is not set for resumption, why should the state government keep treating us like this?”
Another teacher said, the state government is regularly in the habit of infringing on our rights to holidays, she said the state government is either cutting short our holidays, fixing seminars and calling for meetings during holiday periods.
She said it usually seems like the state government does not want us to have deserved rests.
A movement round some schools in the state today set pointers to the assertion that the State Government seems unfair to teachers in the state, most teachers were noticed to have resumed, but a large number of pupils were absent.
One of the teachers showing us her “Eko Excel” tab said “there are schedules on our tabs, but I don’t see the possibility of doing them, I have only 3 pupils present in my class.”
The headteacher of one of the schools visited said “Look, all my teachers are present, except one that is slightly indisposed, we should all still be resting, but we have been told to resume and we are here.”
Some private school owners also revealed that they still can’t comprehend why the sudden change in date by the State Government.
One of the private school owners said “Our pupils and parents had been informed that academic activities will commence on Monday January 10, but we are now confused.”
She further said “I will comply with the state government directive, I don’t expect to have a full school as most teachers and pupils are still holidaying outside Lagos.”
Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, the DG, Office of Education Quality Assurance had said that academic activities in Lagos State public and private schools should start immediately and her office would monitor schools and teachers for compliance.
Public opinion however revealed that there is the need for the Lagos State Government to give teachers adequate time to rest so as to always get the best out of them.
They advised that the State Government should desist from arbitrarily cutting short holidays and that though teachers need regular training and re-training, fixing of these trainings during holidays could be counter productive as teachers too need to have their rest periods for health reasons.
The Lagos State Government did not however give reasons for the sudden change in schools resumption date.
