Crusaderhotnews
By Gidigba Group
We frown at the akward, backward, archaic, and dark directive recently slammed on teachers in Edo to cut grasses in their respective schools and send recordings of exercise to a dedicated WhatsApp platform—being part of efforts of the Edo State government at cleaning up the schools in preparation for resumption.
The directive by the Chairman, Edo State Secondary Education Board, is not only degrading, it is archaic, backward, dark and seeks to ridicule the noble teaching profession—teachers are trained to impact knowledge and guide pupils, students on the path of life, a situation where they are subjected to forced labour as seen in Edo under Okpebholo, is condemnable.
How does a government even put pen to paper to compel teachers to abandon their primary assignment of teaching, guiding and counselling, and take up the job of grass cutting; on what grounds and what logical explanation does the government have to back such ugly development?
Ordinarily, government should make provisions for the maintenance of the school environment in and out of session—the engagement of gardeners, janitors, waste managers and other essential service providers should be seen to be part of responsibilities, compelling trained teachers in the name of corporate social responsibility (CSR), to cut grass, is deceitful, degrading and ridiculing—we call on the Edo teaching community to vehemently reject this nasty, callous, strange and excessively authoritarian decision of the State government.
As school reopening draws nigh, the Okpebholo-led government must be responsible enough to act in line with global best practice, employ the services of professionals who will further deploy mechanized implements to clean up our schools, rather than the use of cutlasses and marchets, as it were in the old days.
Education remains the key to lock our prison doors, where a system fails to invest in education, it has succeeded to flood the prisons with her citizens—beyond that, our teachers are a gateway to greater future, they must be accorded their deserved honour and dignity, not to be seen as victims of forced labour—the Edo State government must honour, celebrate and pay them their dues promptly and also create opportunities for personal and/or personnel development through seminars, workshops, trainings and retrainings, arming them significantly for the effective and efficient impartation of knowledge in our children and wards.
To this end, we call strongly on Edo SSEB, to as a matter of urgent public concern, withdraw this excessively authoritarian directive, and engage professionals to cut grass, not trained teachers.
Edo teachers are not grass cutters, they are a vehicle for the impartation of knowledge, deserving respect, honour, celebration and dignified pay.
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