Private Schools Teachers Plan Protests On Monday Over Continued School Closure And Unpaid Salaries

     

For the first time in the history of the nation’s education sector, private school teachers will on Monday stage a protest against the nonpayment of salaries and continued closure of schools.

The nationwide protest, which is spear headed by the National Association of Private School Teachers  (NAPRIST),  aims at drawing the attention of the Federal Government and stakeholders about the plight of teachers in private schools since the lockdown as result of the Coronavirus pandemic.

Since the closure of schools nationwide by the Federal Government on March 29, teachers in private schools are owed three months salaries. Many are now engaged in petit jobs to survive and feed their families.

A statement signed by the National Chairman of NAPRIST, Mr. U.J. Adams said an emergency meeting was held on Friday, July 10 in all state secretariat and the agenda was the proposed nationwide protest as well as to discuss the way forward for the private school teachers following the indefinite closure of schools by government.

Adams disclosed that he has received several calls from well-meaning Nigerians across the country in support of the protest and assured his colleagues that the protest will go on as scheduled on Monday, July 13.

Said he: ”We have been assured to proceed with the protest. More than 50 SMS have been received from our colleagues showing their interest to stage or lead such protest in their respective states in Nigeria. In case you are still doubting us, NAPRIST has come to stay. NAPRIST is the voice of the voiceless private school teachers. "NAPRIST is the voice of over 1,000,000million private school teachers in Nigeria who have been silenced by hunger and desperate capitalists in education sector.

" NAPRIST is the voice of the victims of blindness in Nigerian leadership . NAPRIST is not a political organisation. NAPRIST is an association of intellectuals that are interested in creating a better and equal opportunities for all teachers in the primary and secondary levels in Nigeria,” Adams explained.

"It is high time we made our voice known and recognised in Nigeria. We have kept quiet for too long and our silence has been misinterpreted as weak and voiceless teachers. Our society has betrayed us and our employers are handicapped. The so call NUT has denied us and our gove -rnments don’t have us in their plan but only have us in their tax payers’ record.”

The NAPRIST chairman recalled that many teachers have not received any pay for the past three months while government and stakeholders kept quiet about their plight and asked when it has become a crime to be a private school teachers.

He again asked: ”What evil have we done in teaching Nigerian children? We know our take home cannot take us to the market, many of us with NCEs, HNDs, B.Scs, PGDs and M.Scs still receive less than N20,000 per month as salary, we are not demanding for minimum wage because we are not recognised as workers in Nigeria even though every parent in Nigeria trusts us and wants us to teach their children but they don’t want us to live a better life.”

Adams explained that private school teachers want the government to do something for them, especially now that they are helpless and are also finding it difficult to cater for their families in the last three months.

He reminded his colleagues that this is the best time to draw the attention of Nigerians and government to their plight, adding ”if we fail to stamp our name in the heart of our government, posterity will not fail to condemn us and whenever our name is mentioned in history, we will be seen as cowards.”

The NAPRIST boss urged private school teachers to come out en masse for the solidarity movement and equally extended invitation to their colleagues in government-owned schools nationwide to join in the struggle.