No Teacher Should Resume School on September 22nd - NUT Declares!

No Teacher Should Resume School 

on September 22nd - NUT Declares!

   The Nigeria Union of Teachers, NUT, Tuesday , directed it members

 to ignore the 22nd of September, 2014, resumption of primary and 

secondary schools in Nigeria.
National President of NUT, Comrade Micheal Olukoya, gave the directive

 while briefing journalists in Abuja.

He said the teachers should only resume if the Federal Government

 sufficiently trained and provide them with necessary preventive and

 protective gadgets on Ebola virus.

It would be recalled that the federal government changed the resumption

 date from September 8, 2014 to October 13, 2014, over the outbreak of

 Ebola virus in the country. The date was reviewed fom October 13, 

to September 22, 2014, based on the advice given by Minister of Health,

 Prof. Onyebuchi Chukwu, who said based on the progress made so far

 that over 98% suceess has been recorded across the nation.

According to Olukoya, “But where the federal government insists on the 

22nd September, 2014, date in spite of the wise counsel, the union will

 rather direct teachers to resume schools whenever they are sufficiently

 trained and their schools have been provided with the necessary

 preventive and protective gadgets.

For the avoidance of doubt, the teachers have this day, resolved to resume 

classes in obedience to the federal government directive, in states where

 teachers have been trained to handle any outbreak and all the required

 preventive and protective gadgets such as hand gloves, sanitizers,

 infra-red thermometers, running water and soaps have been provided

 as directed by federal government of Nigeria.

“In states where the training has not been done and necessary

 safeguarding gadgets not provided, teachers shall continue to remain

 at home until their state governments respond positively or the union directs

 them to the contrary”.

He noted that the dream of the union is to see all things put in place to

 protect the teachers and school children from being infected in the school.

He said, “The NUT is strongly of the opinion that it is better to delay the

 resumption of school till 13(h October, 2014, even when the scourge

 would have been offmonths ago than rush and open schools only to be

 faced with attacks of EVD in the schools.

“It makes more sense to be doubly sure than to operate on shaky grounds 

of uncertainty and probability as it will be catastrophy of unimaginable

 dimension if by any act of omission we rush and open schools and end up 

with even up with even one primary or secondary school being infected by

 the virus”.

The union also threatened to shut down the education sector if the federal

 government scrap Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, TRCN because

 it is the only regulatory body for the practice of teaching in Nigeria from

 primary school to the terrtiary institution.

“This attempt at scrapping TRCN shows clearly that the federal government

 does not care about the standard of teachers of Nigeria and the much

 sought-for professionalism of the teaching industry.

“The teachers of Nigeria are watching this development with keen interest

 with a view to returning to the trenches of 1992 and 1993 as they will not

 just fold their hands and watch the bastardisation of thei profession”.

*Culled from Vanguard Newspaper