The Problem With Teaching As A Profession -By Ifeanyi John Nwokeabia

Every human is a teacher but not every teacher is humane. In recent times, many have run to teaching as the render of the last resort. This is because they have failed to secure a job in their hearts-warming-passionate professions and when an opportunity comes from teaching, they accepted it saying,’do I have a choice? Let me be managing it until I get a job of my heart desire’. Then my question is: if your heart does not desire teaching, why waste your time on it? The economists made us to understand that a worker who does not derive job satisfaction in his or her secured job is jobless (unemployed).

Teaching emanates from knowing. That’s, you can only give what you have and not what you don’t have. Many wear the emblem ‘I am a teacher’ which in another glorified parlance,‘uncles‘ and ‘aunties’ but sadly to say that not many posses the simplest qualities of a teacher. The problem of teaching as a profession in Nigeria are great and many as it is all encompassing and also regional divergence but some will be discussed in the paragraphs below:

Trained and qualified teachers from different Colleges of Education and Education faculties in different Nigerian Universities fail to get job placement from the government after their graduation. The question is: what is the need for undergoing rigorous training in teaching when you won’t be employed to practice what you learnt? Many young people who are willing to put their knowledge into work in building and lifting our education system to a greater height are being neglected. In one of my recent meetings with secondary schools students, they clearly told me that they lack teachers in some core subjects. Now,are we going to say there are no capable young teachers to fill those vacuum?

A strong united national committee responsible for the primary and secondary schools will go a long way in alleviating the problem of teaching profession. This kind of body is set up to serve as voice to millions voiceless teachers all over the name. There is no better way to improve the teaching profession if not this way. The national university commission(NUC) is a strong body that made universities to be a strong force they are in Nigeria today. But how and when will primary and secondary schools achieve such feats when each state runs it educational affairs in its own way?

The porosity of the teaching profession on the admission of her members left nothing to be admired. It’s understandable that there is scarcity of job in Nigeria but that’s not a justifiable reason while the door of teaching profession should be left ajar like a restaurant door. The onus of teaching as a profession is waning as many unqualified (quack) teachers are employed on daily basis. Why didn’t the medical profession give room for such porosity? This is because they read the handwriting on the wall and proffer measures to curtail such. Many Nigerians today who finished secondary schools education without any teaching training or experience end up becoming teachers in different primary and secondary schools. On this note, I beg to ask,do we still have Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT)? If yes,what are their function (s)?

The teaching code of ethics has become a beautiful novel enjoyed in paper without a practical plans. There’s no form of enforcement to all the outlined codes of teaching profession. If a philosophical ethics lacks its moral standing, it will be best to discard it or restructure it. Teaching like every other profession has her code of ethics but no one is there to enforce it and that’s why the profession suffers malnutrition like a goat owned by the general public. If you can lay your hand on the 1969 NUT code of ethics, you will find out how beautiful teaching profession could have looked if proper were enforced.
In conclusion, it’s clear that teaching profession in Nigeria has problem but if something is done in the above areas discussed, it will surely turn a new leaf. No doubt,despite all odds, teaching is still the noblest profession that must embraced by all. Having love for it will make it easier for lasting solutions to be procured.

Nwokeabia, Ifeanyi John hails from Nibo in Awka South Local Government Area, Anambra State. He is a poet and teacher. He has NCE and BA(ed) all in the English language.