FG raises teachers’ retirement age to 65

Minister of education, Adamu Adamu, said that President Muhammadu Buhari, has approved the increase in teachers’ retirement age from 60 to 65 years.

The minister made this known on Thursday, at a public hearing on the need to insulate teachers from the retirement age for public servants, organised by the House joint committee on basic education and public service.

The minister said that it was a means of improving the standard of basic and secondary education in the country.

Adamu informed the house joint committee that the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) had submitted the new retirement age proposal to the ministry and the National Assembly for approval. He said that the drive was based on the need for better performance by teachers and the desire to have quality teachers in the nation’s schools.

“Nigerian teachers to some extent require a reasonable retirement age like their counterparts in India, Canada, Belgium that have increased the retirement age for teachers to 65 years. “We are appealing to the House to approve the bill because the ministry is in support of increasing the retirement age of teachers,” he said.

Earlier, the chairman House committee on basic education, Zakari Mohammed, said that the bill was being considered for passage, adding that the bill seeks to absolve teachers from the public service rule which sets the retirement age for government workers at 60, and set for them a new retirement age of 65.

The chairman said, teachers are the bedrock of any nation and as such their wealth of experience must be tapped into to enhance the well being of society. Mohammed said apart from the bill to extend the retirement age for teachers, House also was considering to amend the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria Act to strengthen its regulatory powers to promote professionalism and eradicate quacks.

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