Teachers are usually described as the backbone of any nation. In Nigeria, they are treated more like a second thought. While politicians praise education in words and budget announcements, the reality inside Nigeria’s classrooms tells a different story of neglect, underpayment, and dying self-respect.

Many teachers across the country earn wages that cannot sustain a modest living. Some are owed months of salary arrears. Others rely on side hustles – farming, petty trading, commercial transport – just to survive. A profession meant to shape minds has been reduced, for many, to a struggle for daily bread. When a society forces its teachers to live in desperation, it quietly sabotages its own future.

The results are obvious, as overcrowded classrooms, outdated teaching materials and demoralized educators have become the norm. In many public schools, one teacher handles more than expected number of pupils, and sometimes takes multiple subjects they were never trained to teach, with continuous professional development not frequent.

The frequent strikes by teachers, like those seen in higher institutions with the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), are often called disruptions instead of suffering signs. But up till now, strikes are not usually the first choice, they are the last resort of professionals who have been ignored for too long. Each strike is a result of failure in dialogue, trust, and governance which leaves students paying the highest price for every prolonged closure.

It is a painful mockery to Nigeria’s education system. Parents blame teachers for poor learning outcomes, while governments blame funding limitations. The educators working within these broken systems are caught in the middle and are expected to produce excellence without support.

The neglect of teachers also fuels Nigeria’s growing education gap. Private schools, though costly, employ the greatest population of educators despite its poor remuneration, while public schools continue to deteriorate in both infrastructure and quality manpower. This deepens inequality, ensuring that quality education remains a privilege rather than a right.

Read Also: Japa as a Vote of No Confidence

If Nigeria is serious about reforming its education sector, it must start with teachers in policy and action.

First, teachers’ salaries must be reviewed and analysed to meet economic realities. A national minimum standard for teachers’ pays should be enforced across states to prevent wide differences and persistent arrears.

Second, quick and expected payment must be guaranteed. Salary delays should attract sanctions for defaulting authorities, because no professional can perform effectively under constant financial uncertainty.

Third, continuous training must be established. Teachers must be equipped for modern classrooms through regular, funded professional development, not occasional workshops.

Fourth, recruitment, promotion, and deployment must be merit-based, as clear career progress tied to performance and qualification will bring back professionalism and motivation within the system.

Fifth, teachers must be involved in education policy decisions for policies designed without authenticity frequently fail.

No country develops beyond the quality of its teachers. Roads can be rebuilt, currencies can improve, but a poorly educated generation leaves scars that last for years. Nigeria cannot continue to neglect those assigned with shaping its future and still hope for progress.

Until teachers are valued not just in words but in action, the crisis in Nigeria’s classrooms and lecture halls will persist, and the nation will keep paying the price for its indifference, through a generation of poorly instructed graduates who go on to become poor players in the Nigerian ecosystem.