Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa
Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, has said the Federal Government remains committed to strengthening the teaching profession, improving teachers’ welfare and equipping educators to meet the demands of a rapidly changing world.
Alausa stated this on Monday at the 2026 World Teachers’ Day commemoration and President’s Teachers’ and Schools’ Excellence Awards ceremony, held under the theme, _“Protecting and Advancing the Status of the Teaching Profession in a Rapidly Changing World.”_
The minister said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu had placed education at the centre of his Renewed Hope Agenda, describing the President’s support for the sector as critical to ongoing efforts to improve learning outcomes and strengthen the teaching profession.
According to him, “the Federal Government recognises teachers as central to national development because virtually every profession depends on the work of teachers”.
“Every doctor, engineer, scientist, entrepreneur and public servant has benefited from a teacher, and could not have become what they are today without teachers,” Alausa said.
On its part, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) has renewed its call for the implementation of the special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools, approved under the administration of the late President Muhammadu Buhari.
The NUT National Deputy President, Kizito Kalu, said the approved salary regime had yet to be implemented, four years after the approval.
Kalu said, “Teachers must receive remuneration that reflects the importance of their responsibilities and the prevailing economic realities in the country.
“We wish to recall that the federal government, under former President Muhammadu Buhari, gave approval for the implementation of a special salary scale for teachers in basic and secondary schools in the year 2022 alongside other welfare packages.
“Unfortunately, four years after the approvals, implementation has not commenced.
“We, therefore, renew our call on the government to set machinery in motion for actualisation of the new salary regime for teachers in order to boost their morale and enhance their dignity.”
The NUT official also called for improved working conditions for teachers, stressing that they could not be expected to perform optimally in environments characterised by “overcrowded classrooms, inadequate furniture, insufficient instructional materials.”
World Teachers’ Day was inaugurated on October 5, 1994, at the 44th session of the International Conference on Education in Geneva.
He said Nigeria was facing an acute shortage of teachers, particularly in rural, underserved and hard-to-reach communities, as a result of years of inadequate recruitment by some state governments.
“There is acute shortage of teachers in our schools across states of the federation, occasioned by non-recruitment of teachers by some state governments for many years,” Amba said.
He urged governments to recruit sufficient numbers of professionally qualified teachers and provide incentives capable of encouraging them to remain in the profession.
He thanked Nigerian teachers for their service, perseverance, professionalism, devotion to children and patriotism, describing their work as fundamental to the nation’s future.
“Today belongs to you. Your service calls for more than words of thanks on one day each year. It calls for sustained respect, investment and partnership through each day of the year,” Alausa said.
He congratulated all recipients of the 2026 President’s Teachers’ and Schools’ Excellence Awards and wished Nigerian teachers a happy World Teachers’ Day.
