Teachers yesterday made a case for the convocation of a National Education Summit with a view to repositioning the nation’s education sector.

NUT National President, Comrade Michael Olukoya, said the country needed a serious result oriented and purposeful education summit where professionals and stakeholders would bring their experiences to bear in offering solutions to all challenges bedeviling the system.

Olukoya, who was represented by Comrade Samson Akinlade, spoke in Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, on the occasion of the 2015 World Teachers Day celebration, said the summit would be for education to serve the current demands of the Nigerian society.

He said the summit would be expected to address many issues including teacher training, UTME cut-off points, teachers’ salary structure, motivation, career progression, teaching environment, quality and functional education for the citizenry.

NUT State Chairman, Comrade Kayode Akosile, who appreciated the present administration in the state for according teachers recognition, however, requested “harmonisation for teachers’ promotion to take care of backlog of promotions”.

Akosile appealed for employment of more teachers in the state to fill consequential vacancies and integration of teachers deployed from local governments.

In Abuja, Alogba disclosed that over 600 teachers have been killed and 19,000 others displaced since the Boko Haram crisis started.

According to him, 308 teachers fell to the insurgent’s attacks in Borno State alone, 75 were killed in Adamawa, 18 in Yobe, 25 in Kaduna, 120 in Plateau, 63 in Kano and two in Gombe.

He lamented the inability of government to uncover the whereabouts of the missing Chibok girls more than 500 days after they were abducted by the sect members.

“We are devastated by the damage and atrocities of the Boko Haram sect in the education system, particularly children in the North East.

“The memory of the Chibok girls and thousands of others whose potentials and lives have been truncated remains traumatic and demoralising,” he said.

Dwelling on the theme for the 2015 edition, “Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies”, the NUT President criticised the Federal Government’s lopsided policies on education, stressing that the trend had encouraged undue commercialisation of education, rather than safeguarding citizens’ right to quality education.

On the application of the bailout funds to indebted states, he said government should not hesitate to probe any erring state found to have diverted the funds to other sources. “A number of states are yet to pay the back-log of salaries owed teachers.

Such states argue that the money released to them is not a bailout fund for salaries but a normal loan to states meant to be utilised in any manner that pleases them, particularly in areas that will yield financial returns which will guarantee their repayment.

“This argument is absurd and deceitfully too far from the truth as it is aimed at subjecting workers to perpetual suffering. We therefore implore you to monitor the disbursement of this fund and not to hesitate to bring to book any government functionary who diverted, misapplied or misappropriated this bailout fund,” he noted.

Speaking at the event, President Muhammadu Buhari assured of his administration’s commitment to initiate policies that will reposition teacher education in the country.

Buhari who was represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Babachir Lawal, said government will continue to give priority to education as part of effort to address challenges of illiteracy.

Only a handful of teachers turned up for the commemoration of their day at the Eagle Square, following weekend’s twin bomb attacks at Kuje and Nyanya.

In Katsina, NUT called for an increase in the retirement age of primary and secondary school teachers from its current 60 to 65 years.

NUT said the increase in retirement age became necessary to check the rate at which experienced teachers were being lost to retirement despite their needed services in the school system.

It said the educational system was plagued by shortage of experienced teachers due to current age of retirement, and that recruitment of teachers was often not forthcoming to fill resultant vacancies.

In Gombe State, Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, issued a two weeks ultimatum to the State House of Assembly to ensure the payment of all teachers’ allowances or face workers decisive action.

NLC Chairman, Haruna Kamara gave the lawmakers up to October 26, 2015 to ensure that all allowances owed teachers in the state are paid immediately.

The NLC chairman, who however appealed to teachers to check truancy among their members, said this was impacting very negatively in the education sector of the state.

Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State called for a more elaborate education curriculum in the nation’s educational system with the inclusion of financial education, online learning, digital literacy, emotional intelligence among.

Okowa, speaking in Asaba, the state capital, also expressed the need to produce citizen that will help build sustainable society and to develop a curriculum of excellence.

Earlier in his address, state chairman of NUT, Jonathan Jemirieyigbe, noted that the celebration would afford both state and local governments to redefine the place of teachers by providing favourable working conditions and professional excellence needed to achieve the required changes in the education system.

The NUT boss, however, assured that the union would collaborate with other government agencies to fight terrorism and kidnapping in Nigeria, stressing that the theme of This year’s celebration, ‘Empowering Teachers, Building Sustainable Societies’, was nothing but to address the issues that the country is presently faced with. Also during the celebration in Lagos, NUT called on the state government to recruit more teachers for both primary and secondary schools in the state.

Chairman of the state chapter, Adesegun Raheem, speaking at UNILAG Sports Complex, where the celebration took place said NUT is aware of the engagement process of 1,300 teachers but the figure is dismally low to the reality on ground, stressing that the emerging statistics is one teacher to a school which is a mirage. “We therefore call for an upward review of this number through another advert.

We have suggested a conversion of the myriad of NCE and university degree holders among our non-teaching staffers throughout the state,” he said.

He further said there is also the compendium of volunteer, parents forum and contract teachers to draw from, adding that many of the non-teaching members of staff involved are at the bar of their service scale and their engagement will therefore be at no extra cost to the government.

“All the government will require is to shortlist the identified staff for an interview while they tender their additional credentials. They mat afterward be made to proceed on some refresher courses for optimum service delivery,” he added.

The state Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule in her speech said the state government will continue to empower teachers in order to prepare the children for the challenges ahead.

She said the government is committed the education sector that is why it will continue to empower teachers especially those in public schools so that they can go along with the emerging technologies.

On security, the deputy governor said the state government will not compromise the security of its citizens including students.

She urged the teachers to be more dedicated to work in building the future leaders. In Oyo State, most teachers in public and private schools shunned the celebration apparently in protest over months of unpaid salaries as well as arrears of pensions and gratuities of those in retirement.