The Education Minister, Adamu Adamu dropped the hint yesterday while inaugurating the Governing Councils of 21 Federal Colleges of Education in Abuja.

Teachers may soon earn higher salaries than other workers in the country. The Education Minister, Adamu Adamu dropped the hint yesterday while inaugurating the Governing Councils of 21 Federal Colleges of Education in Abuja.

He said the teaching profession had ceased to be an “all-comers affairs.” Represented by the Minister of State for Education, Prof. Anthony Gozie Anwukah, he said government had understudied the Malaysian educational system and decided to take a critical look at teaching and teacher education.

He, however, sounded a note of warning that teachers across all levels must register with the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) before the end of this year or risk being sent out of the system.

The minister noted that Malaysia in the quest for greatness had reorganised its educational sector for effective development of human resources to take it to the present position.

He explained that their teachers were paid higher than other workers and that the Federal Government felt it was expedient to do the same in the country.

The minister also explained that Malaysians bought palm seedlings from Nigeria at the rate of N10 each, some years ago, adding that today, its economy is completely dependent on palm trees, palm fruits and palm oil.

He said: “What they did was to bring down the whole system and resuscitated the education sector. Their planning was geared towards the development of human resources. In Malaysia, a top percentage of those who scored the highest in their equivalent of our JAMB compete to be teachers.

“If you are a teacher in Malaysia, you are ranked higher than any other worker in the country. This is why you would find people with PhDs teaching in primary schools. We have made that recommendation and we are going to implement it in Nigeria,” he said.

Guardianng