The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) has urged the Federal and State Governments to prioritize teachers’ welfare by implementing a living wage, increasing funding for public education, and protecting the rights of teachers in private schools to join unions.

NLC President, Comrade Joe Ajaero, made the call in Abuja during the 2025 World Teachers’ Day celebration, themed “Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession.” He emphasized that Nigeria must deliberately invest in education to rescue its declining system and empower teachers to drive national development.

“The international theme for this year – ‘Recasting Teaching as a Collaborative Profession’, resonates deeply with our Nigerian reality. Yet, we must confront the foundational crisis that has long bedeviled our education system, a crisis that has kept teachers on the fringes of society despite being the key drivers of national development,” Ajaero said.

The labour leader lamented that the global teacher crisis highlighted by UNESCO, ILO, UNICEF, and Education International is an everyday reality in Nigeria, citing a severe shortage of qualified teachers, worsening brain drain, and widespread professional isolation.

“Few realize that trained and qualified teachers are becoming increasingly scarce because we have allowed untrained individuals to fill our classrooms without adequate preparation,” he added.

Ajaero decried Nigeria’s high teacher-to-student ratio, describing it as “alarming and counterproductive.” He noted that the average teacher in a public school now handles as many as 50 students, a situation that undermines learning quality.

“Teaching is inherently collaborative. It is crucial that we develop a national framework to bridge the gap by training and certifying unqualified personnel to improve learning outcomes. The truth remains: while many people can teach something, not everyone is a teacher,” he stressed.

He criticized what he called society’s hypocrisy toward teachers, saying that while they are praised in speeches, they are impoverished in reality.

“In Nigeria, we have perfected the art of praising teachers to high heavens while starving them on earth. We extol the nobility of the teaching profession yet reward that nobility with indignity, dishonor, and scorn. We acknowledge that teachers hold the key to our nation’s future, yet we confine them to a present filled with struggle, neglect, and near-starvation,” he lamented.

The NLC President also questioned the rising tuition and levies in schools amid stagnant teacher salaries, asking, “Where does this money go? It certainly does not reach the teacher in the classroom.”

Ajaero called for deliberate, sustained investments in education, noting that nations like China, India, and several Western countries made progress by prioritizing educational development.

“Our schools must be better funded because therein lies our future. Every nation that has achieved sustainable progress has laid its foundation on quality education. Whatever we do, we must put our money where our mouth is—in education,” he emphasized.

He linked teacher welfare directly to learning outcomes, noting that “a teacher burdened by hunger, rent, and transport worries cannot be a fountain of creativity and inspiration.”

“You cannot give what you do not have. The rewards of teaching must not be postponed to heaven—they must be delivered here on earth,” he declared.

Recalling his early years as a classroom teacher, Ajaero said he understood the daily struggles of educators.

“I began my journey as a trained teacher, standing in front of eager students. I know firsthand the challenges, frustrations, and triumphs of that calling. If Nigeria must grow, we must grow the teaching profession,” he said.

He outlined the NLC’s key demands, including:

Recognition of teaching as the “queen of all professions”;

Increased education funding to meet the UNESCO benchmark of 6% of GDP and 20% of total public expenditure; and

Promotion of collaboration, dignity, and fair compensation for all teachers.

“A well-remunerated and motivated teaching workforce is the non-negotiable foundation upon which sustainable societies are built,” Ajaero stated.

The labour leader also drew attention to the plight of private school teachers, describing them as some of the most exploited workers in the country.>

“They are grossly marginalized, denied the national minimum wage, health insurance, pensions and severance benefits. Although a union exists to protect them, many private school owners, powerful and well-connected, continue to act with impunity,” he alleged.

Ajaero urged the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) to collaborate with unions in the private education sector to improve working conditions.

“In the spirit of this year’s theme, we urge NUT to collaborate with private school teachers to make their work more rewarding. Next year, when we mark another World Teachers’ Day, we expect to see them among us,” he said.

He further tasked the Ministers of Labour and Education to ensure that private school teachers enjoy their constitutional right to unionize, as guaranteed by ILO Conventions 87 and 98 and the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“On this World Teachers’ Day, let us make a collective vow: to fight for the teacher, to secure their present, and by doing so, to secure Nigeria’s future.

Long live the Nigerian teacher! Long live Nigerian workers! Long live the Nigeria Labour Congress! A people united can never be defeated; workers united can never be defeated!” Ajaero concluded.