By Rotimi Ojomoyela
Ado-Ekiti
Teachers in Ekiti state on Monday heaved a sigh of relief as Governor Kayode Fayemi announced the abolishment of the Teachers Development Need Assessment (TDNA) and replaced it with capacity building programmes and administration of questionnaires to students
Fayemi also announced the commencement of the payment of the 27.5 per cent Teachers’ Pecuniary Allowance.
Fayemi made the statement while addressing teachers at a sensitisation programme on the State Education Programme Investment Project (SEPIP) in Ado Ekiti.
Fayemi directed the Deputy Governor, Prof. Modupe Adelabu, to liaise with the leadership of the various teachers unions on the prompt implementation of the allowance.
He said: “I thank all the teachers for their understanding in accepting the negotiated 16% of this allowance. In our various meetings, they were made to appreciate the lean resources of the State but saw our genuine willingness to meet their demands if we were in a position to do. I am happy to inform you that you will now have the remaining 11.5 per cent.”
Commenting on the development, Fayemi said the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology would embark on capacity building of teachers through cluster school training programmes, local and overseas training, seminar and workshops.
Fayemi while reacting to rumours that his administration was compiling a list of workers for disengagement assured that his administration was not planning to sack teachers who had spent over 30 years in service.
He said he was not unaware of the politics being played by one of the candidates in the forthcoming election with the state’s performance in the last WAEC results, stressing that the 34th position claimed by the candidate was a farce.
He presented an 18-seater bus to the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) as earlier requested by the union.
Speaking on behalf of the teachers, the Chairman of NUT, Mr Kayode Akosile, commended the governor for acceding to implement the 27.5 per cent pecuniary allowance despite the meager resources that accrue to the state.
The chairman who thanked Fayemi for fulfilling the promises he made to teachers on the provision of the Bus and the upgrade of the status of teachers from level 16 to 17, assured that Ekiti teachers are solidly in support of the Governor’s re-election.
Akosile added that Ekiti teachers had not had it “so good since the creation of this state and will never turn to ingrates when the time comes to repay the governor’s gesture.”
It would be recalled that the state had in 2012 commenced the payment of rural teachers allowances to teachers posted to rural areas in the state as well as a special allowance to teachers teaching core science subjects, in the bid to motivate the teachers for optimal performance.