The chairman, National Union of Teachers (NUT) in Plateau state, Ayuba Gana, Tuesday urged the state government to give special mobilisation fees to teachers in rural areas.
Gana made the appeal in Jos on the annual Workers’ Day celebration.
He said giving special mobilisation fees to teachers in rural areas would discourage them from migrating to urban centres.
The NUT chairman added that it would also encourage the posting of teachers to the rural areas.
“Rural services allowances should also be given to these teachers in addition to the mobilisation fees to motivate them to discharge their duties diligently, irrespective of their location, and to take care of unforeseen hazards.
Gana alleged that some rural schools had only two teachers who are overburdened with teaching all subjects, therefore, impeding their efficiency and effectiveness in imparting knowledge to the pupils.
The NUT boss lauded the efforts of the Plateau state government in engaging 4,850 ad-hoc teachers as permanent staff, while calling for more recruitment to fill numerous vacancies, especially in rural schools.
“We commend the state government for the infrastructure development in more than 400 schools and paying salaries up to date compared to our colleagues in other states who are owed up to two years.
“We, however, have pending promotions which have long been overdue for two to three years. We have given an ultimatum to the state government to release the promotions before May 29th or face the consequences,’’ he said.
Gana said that efforts were being made to ensure that teachers were included in the implementation of the N30, 000 new minimum wage.
He expressed worry that hitherto, teachers had only been paid 55 per cent of the N18, 000 minimum wage.
