More goodwill messages are coming the way of teachers who are celebrated worldwide every 5th October. This time, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kwara State, Alhaji Hakeem Oladimeji Lawal acknowledged the sacrifice and contirubutions of Nigerian teachers to nation building.
Established in 1994, the World Teachers’ Day, also known as International Teachers Day, is an international day held annually.
It commemorates the signing of the 1966 UNESCO/ILO recommendations concerning the Status of Teachers, which is a standard-setting instrument that addresses the status and ssituation of teachers around the world.
In his message on Wednesday in Ilorin, Lawal, who is a son of a disciplinarian teacher, said he understood and can relate to “the woes, pains, cries and sacrifices of the Nigerian teachers, particularly in the, where his mother, Hajia Nusirat Lawal served till she retired.
He added that “even whilst her husband was the Military Governor of Ogun State (1987 – 1990), she, out of passion for the teaching profession, remained in service and continued to mould the students, scores of who are leading lights in their various fields of endeavor today”.
The governorship hopeful lamented what he called the “sad reality that successive governments have refused to accord the teaching profession its due recognition, thereby strategically hedging majority of teachers from climbing societal ladder of sustainable socio-economic stability”.
Acording to him, he is of “strong conviction that teachers must be returned to their rightful positions. Their salaries, allowances, promotions, and other entitlements must reflect their sacrifices”.
