Bayelsa public schools resume 2016/2017 session

Students in government owned primary and secondary schools in Bayelsa have expressed delight as the 2016/2017 academic session resumed on Monday. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the resumption followed a directive from the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to its striking members. They had been kept away from school for four weeks […]

Students in government owned primary and secondary schools in Bayelsa have expressed delight as the 2016/2017 academic session resumed on Monday.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the resumption followed a directive from the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) to its striking members.

They had been kept away from school for four weeks after the new session started in first week of September.

Public schools in the state were delayed for resumption for the new session due to the failure of the state government to settle eight months salary backlog of teachers.

The union resorted to strike as the state government had reneged on an earlier agreement reached in May to pay half salaries to its workers, pending improvements in the state finances.

Some of the pupils and students seen at the schools visited expressed joy at the resolution of the industrial action.

“I am happy to be back in my new class, I have seen some of my friends but not all of them are around.

“Classes have not started, we are still cleaning our classrooms,” Ms Esther Ebi, a JSS 2 student of St Judes Secondary School told NAN.

Mr Marson Fefegha, the state Commissioner for Education, confirmed to NAN that public primary and secondary schools in the state resumed on Monday, following a truce between the striking workers and the state government.

On plans to cover lost grounds in the school curriculum, Fefegha said that the NUT had assured that they would fast track teachings to meet up.

“Schools just resumed today and teachers need one week to settle down to work but NUT has assured the government that they will meet up,” he said.

Mr Kalaama Toinpre, Chairman of Bayelsa chapter of the NUT, told NAN that the teachers are back in their classrooms.

“The state working committee of the NUT at the weekend resolved that we should suspend the ongoing strike and return to the classroom, following series of negotiations with the state government.

“We have secured some agreements from the state government in writing that at the end of October, two months half salary of the outstanding would be cleared.

“This is in addition to the two months half salary already paid.

“Having secured the commitment of the state government to commence clearing the backlog, we shifted grounds and decided to suspend the strike and returned to work from today.

“We at the state executive of the union are grateful for the solidarity of teachers who resisted ploys to sabotage the struggle for the welfare of teachers and to factionalise teachers in Bayelsa.

“We shall remain united,” Toinpre said.

Fefegha had earlier said in a statement that the government would from Oct. 18 commence monitoring of the compliance by teaching and non-teaching staff at public schools.

According to Fefegha, a team of inspectors from the Ministry of Education would be sent to monitor the resumption of schools across the state.

He said that the NUT directive makes it mandatory for all teaching and non-teaching staff to resume work from Oct. 17.

He warned that staff who deliberately absent themselves from duty would be regarded as “ghost workers’’ and replaced immediately.