WHY 'THEY' DON’T WANT TO BE TEACHERS by SIR JUDAH

WHY 'THEY' DON’T WANT TO BE TEACHERS by SIR JUDAH

'They' (apologies to Dr.Reuben Abati) in this article refers to all the critics of the teaching profession - the doctor and lawyer wannabees, the 'children of anger' who saw their admission into the faculty of education as their most assured attempt at salvaging a dwindling academic career, the medical and pharmacy dropouts who have always found accommodation at the mother of all faculties.
The perpetual jamb customers  who keep writing jamb even till their final year just to exit this 'lowly rated' faculty of teachers, everyone else reading this piece with the intention of still exiting the faculty,and every other individual, who, owing to fate and serendipity, have ended up as educationists-in-training

Although Albert Einstein posited that 'It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy, creative expression and knowledge', the inexorable surge in the number of disenchanted teachers-in-training and its highly noxious effect on the quality of Nigeria's education system, makes the call for a closer scrutiny highly imperative.

When Desiderius Erasmus opined that that the teachers were more important than the school system,the statement referred to the fact that the overall psychological, physical, and emotional drive of teachers is far more crucial to the development of education than teaching itself.
Then, this triggers the questions :
What factors have culminated on the decline of passion,verve and gusto in teachers?
Why do undergraduate students of Education and chemistry prefer to identify with only 'Chemistry' when interrogated?
Why is there so much turn-over from the teaching profession into other much more 'juicy' career paths?

Questions, Questions and Questions!

To start with,the root of every evil or good is desire. Radix malorum bonum est cupiditas, we call it in Latin. The most primal reason for voyaging into a career path is to put a burning desire into action. It is usually either a manic desire to effect a change in the decadent and appalling status quo or to initiate an improvement over an already salubrious system. To achieve this, individuals dare the odds and defy the rain. However, this, sadly enough,remains a conspicuously missing factor in our educational system. Teachers and teachers-in-training exhibit no iota of passion for change. This is obvious in their lackadaisical attitude of Education lecturers and teachers to the profession, the students' desire to just 'read materials' to just  pass and not get adequately trained by the system, and the seeming apathy towards the concept of professionalism and identification as teachers.

Many of the students being trained see an education degree as just a means to an end-a stepping stone to better fields rather than the lifetime calling it actually is. After my education degree, i'm off to music!', I can hear one claiming.

Also,our egregiously distorted admission system is another reason why many of our 'teachers-in-training' don't want to be teachers.
Over the years,the faculties  of education in several institutions across the nation have been converted into a dumping ground of sort, a dustbin for litters of every Tom, Dick and Harry. This has led to an increase in the  disconcertion among these students and thereby has stymied academic performances.
When a student is forcefully admitted into a system he isn't interested in, frustration and dejection sets in as academic challenges come in droves.
This thorny issue, 'Why they don't want to be teachers would be inadequately critiqued without the mention of poor pay and incentives. Despite the professed nobility of the teaching profession, the gross underpayment and disincentivisation has reached a catastrophic height and therefore discourages educators from practising fervidly.
As at 1st of June 2017, there were over 20 states of the federation still owing teachers backlog of salaries and allowances-for as much as 10 months!
Private institutions, another huge employer of teachers, prefer to horrendously overwork and grossly underpay their members of staff. This makes it easy for teachers to exit the profession and seek the promise land.
Issues ranging from disinterest in the teaching profession, poor teaching methods to dilapidated educational infrastructure are symptomatic of an already retrogressing educational system.Something has to be done,and done fast!
There is an urgent need for an all round orientation, sensitization and ideologization of the teachers and teachers-in & training alike on their importance to the society, their comportment and deportment,their use of language, charisma, oratory, and ideological strength.Through public lectures and paper presentation, students confidence can be boosted and encouraged to take teaching as a profession rather than an emergency vocation.Also, the issues of payment of teachers need to be reviewed in line with confronting economic realities.

Teachers are moulders, movers and shapers of the society. Their overall social health needs collective attention. When this is done, our once-upon-a-time 'they' can want to become teachers again!

SIR JUDAH.