By Son Tertsea, Abuja

The vacancy policy for the promotion of teachers has not gone down well with the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Federal Capital Territory Wing, on Monday, protesting against it.

Consequently, the union officials and members stormed the Headquarters of the National Open University, Abuja, venue of the ongoing 2025 promotion examinations for 13,000 FCT Administration workers, to register their anger and to press home their demands.

Chairman of the union, Mr Abdullahi Shafa who led the protest, appealed to the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Mr Emeka Ezeh, to remove the vacancy condition for promotion.

Shafa argued that teachers were not pool staff and as such, deserve merit not vacancy as a condition for promotion.

According to him, vacancy as a condition for promotion will stagnate career progression for teachers in the FCT.

“The application of vacancy-based promotion for teachers is unjust and detrimental to the teaching profession.

“Teachers should be promoted based on merit and successful performance in promotion examinations rather than the availability of vacancies.

“We deserve special consideration because of the unique nature of our work and the difficult conditions under which many of us serve.

“Therefore, teachers should not be subjected to a vacancy system, as they are deployed across schools in urban and rural communities, where many are facing security challenges, including banditry and kidnapping.”

He pointed out that promotion was a key motivation for teachers and warned that stagnating teachers’ career progression would further discourage them and undermine the education sector.

Shafa said that teachers remained among the least and under paid public servants in the country, despite the critical role they played in nation building.

According to him, some teachers in the country still earn between N50,000 and N60,000 as a monthly salary, in contrast to what their counterparts receive in some developed countries.

“How do you survive with such a meagre amount if you are living in the capital city?

“Therefore, if a teacher sits for a promotion examination and passes the examination, he or she should be promoted.”

He urged Ezeh to engage with the union rather than dismissing its concerns, saying “dialogue is necessary to resolving any dispute” explaining that prolonged delays in resolving the promotion issue had forced teachers to leave their classrooms to participate in protests, with adverse consequences for pupils.

“Our members are not in the classrooms today because they are demanding what they believe is their legitimate right but those who suffer most are the children,” he said.

Responding to allegations that the protests might be politically motivated, Shafa insisted that the agitation was solely aimed at protecting the welfare and career progression of teachers.

Similarly, the Secretary of the union, Mrs Margaret Jethro, stressed that teachers should not be subjected to the same promotion policy with civil servants and advocated the establishment of a Teachers Service Commission in FCT.

“You cannot use a law being used for a core civil servant who needs office accommodation and an official car for promotion of teachers.

“Teachers only need their classrooms as such, the vacancy policy will not work for teachers,” he said.

Jethro said that in 2023, 401 deputy directors passed the promotion examination but only 20 were promoted.

She reiterated the union’s demand that all the teachers that passed the promotion examination in 2023 and 2024 must be promoted before the union would allow the 2025 examination for teachers.

“The benchmark for promotion was set by the authorities and qualified teachers should not be denied promotion after meeting the requirements,” she said.

Responding, Ezeh explained that promotion for FCT workers, including teachers, was clearly spelt out in the guidelines, adding that the union’s demand appears mischievous.

“The system of government is guided by rules, and the commission is only implementing the guidelines for promotion,” he said.

Ezeh said that no one could be promoted without a vacancy because it had financial and establishment implications.

By Son Tertsea, Abuja

The vacancy policy for the promotion of teachers has not gone down well with the Nigeria Union of Teachers, Federal Capital Territory Wing, on Monday, protesting against it.

Consequently, the union officials and members stormed the Headquarters of the National Open University, Abuja, venue of the ongoing 2025 promotion examinations for 13,000 FCT Administration workers, to register their anger and to press home their demands.

Chairman of the union, Mr Abdullahi Shafa who led the protest, appealed to the Chairman of the FCT Civil Service Commission, Mr Emeka Ezeh, to remove the vacancy condition for promotion.

Shafa argued that teachers were not pool staff and as such, deserve merit not vacancy as a condition for promotion.

According to him, vacancy as a condition for promotion will stagnate career progression for teachers in the FCT.

“The application of vacancy-based promotion for teachers is unjust and detrimental to the teaching profession.

“Teachers should be promoted based on merit and successful performance in promotion examinations rather than the availability of vacancies.

“We deserve special consideration because of the unique nature of our work and the difficult conditions under which many of us serve.

“Therefore, teachers should not be subjected to a vacancy system, as they are deployed across schools in urban and rural communities, where many are facing security challenges, including banditry and kidnapping.”

He pointed out that promotion was a key motivation for teachers and warned that stagnating teachers’ career progression would further discourage them and undermine the education sector.

Shafa said that teachers remained among the least and under paid public servants in the country, despite the critical role they played in nation building.

According to him, some teachers in the country still earn between N50,000 and N60,000 as a monthly salary, in contrast to what their counterparts receive in some developed countries.

“How do you survive with such a meagre amount if you are living in the capital city?

“Therefore, if a teacher sits for a promotion examination and passes the examination, he or she should be promoted.”

He urged Ezeh to engage with the union rather than dismissing its concerns, saying “dialogue is necessary to resolving any dispute” explaining that prolonged delays in resolving the promotion issue had forced teachers to leave their classrooms to participate in protests, with adverse consequences for pupils.

“Our members are not in the classrooms today because they are demanding what they believe is their legitimate right but those who suffer most are the children,” he said.

Responding to allegations that the protests might be politically motivated, Shafa insisted that the agitation was solely aimed at protecting the welfare and career progression of teachers.

Similarly, the Secretary of the union, Mrs Margaret Jethro, stressed that teachers should not be subjected to the same promotion policy with civil servants and advocated the establishment of a Teachers Service Commission in FCT.

“You cannot use a law being used for a core civil servant who needs office accommodation and an official car for promotion of teachers.

“Teachers only need their classrooms as such, the vacancy policy will not work for teachers,” he said.

Jethro said that in 2023, 401 deputy directors passed the promotion examination but only 20 were promoted.

She reiterated the union’s demand that all the teachers that passed the promotion examination in 2023 and 2024 must be promoted before the union would allow the 2025 examination for teachers.

“The benchmark for promotion was set by the authorities and qualified teachers should not be denied promotion after meeting the requirements,” she said.

Responding, Ezeh explained that promotion for FCT workers, including teachers, was clearly spelt out in the guidelines, adding that the union’s demand appears mischievous.

“The system of government is guided by rules, and the commission is only implementing the guidelines for promotion,” he said.

Ezeh said that no one could be promoted without a vacancy because it had financial and establishment implications.

By Nick Ibe, Abuja

The Federal Government is set to drop the policy separating Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) from Senior Secondary Schools (SSS). The policy shift is being considered after data showed more than 20 million pupils dropped out before reaching the senior secondary level.

Announcing this Tuesday in Abuja was the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, during the inauguration of the UBEC Ministerial Implementation and Monitoring Committee.

Alausa pointed out that the “disarticulation policy,” which required JSS and SSS to operate separately with different principals and facilities, has not met expected objectives. He justified the review saying:

“We have 20 million dropouts from primary school to JSS. Where are those students? We also found we have 80,000 public primary schools, and only about 15,000 junior secondary schools. That’s a one to eight ratio.”

The minister said the imbalance has caused overcrowding in JSS facilities and left many senior secondary schools underutilised. He made reference to Kaduna and other northern states as examples.

“This disarticulation policy has failed. We will phase it out. We can’t be creating positions because we want to create a director level for people while we harm our education system. It’s about doing what is best for every Nigerian child.”

He added that the proposal to abolish the policy will be tabled at the next meeting of the National Council on Education.

The policy shift is aimed at expanding access and improving learning outcomes, Alausa said. He acknowledged past failures in addressing transition rates but stated: “This government will not fail. We are fixing it.”

At the same event, Alausa inaugurated a committee chaired by Prof. Rashid Aderinoye to oversee UBEC-funded Smart Schools, Bilingual Schools and Alternative Schools.

The committee is mandated to ensure the projects are completed, handed over to states and opened for learning.

UBEC has invested in hundreds of such schools nationwide.

The minister said many remain unfinished or have not admitted learners, describing it as a waste of public resources.