School Reopening: Imo State Teachers Refuses to Resume over Non-Payment of Seven Months Salary
As schools begin to resume in various states across the country, schools in Imo State were under locked and key, as teachers lament the non-payment of their seven month salary.
Some of the teachers who were at a meeting at the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Imo chapter, Secretariat, along Port-Harcourt road, Owerri, expressed bitterness, over the continual neglect by the state Government, while disclosing that they received their salary last in March, 2020.
Meanwhile, reports gathered by EDUCARE NEWS, indicated that some of the schools that were reopened in the state failed to observe the COVID-19 protocol, set aside by, the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), as most of the pupils did not wear face masks, no boreholes or pipe-borne water for students, teachers, parents and visitors to wash their hands.
A parent who has two children in Nekede Secondary School said, “Nothing to show that these people are preparing against COVID-19, no pipe-borne water for children to wash their hands.
“Teachers were not given salaries. These children need guidance and the teachers cannot teach the pupils on empty stomach.” he concluded.
It would be recalled that, members of the Imo State Chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers had in July, 2020, embarked on a seven-day fasting and prayers in the 647 autonomous communities over non-payment of their three-month salary arrears.
