WE are in the month of August when learners will be going on the long holidays in Nigeria. This holiday usually falls between the month of August and the first few weeks of September (six weeks precisely). Before now, long holidays were usually between the months of September and December (three months, and learners resumed by January of the following year). I remember fondly when we were younger, how our long breaks were always for rest and were always full holidays in their entirety: We travelled, we played. We were truly refreshed in preparation for the new session. Unfortunately, this changed in the 90s when the 6-3-3-4 educational system was put into motion fully. Private individuals began to establish private primary and secondary schools. Students and teachers are now made to come to school in the guise of ‘Summer Coaching’ (whatever that means) during long holidays and the duration was reduced from three months to six weeks. Over the years, it has become a period when many people working in that sector gnash their teeth, so to speak. A large majority of the staff do not get paid during that period. Many of the school proprietors and proprietresses tell their staff ‘no work, no pay.’ Fathers and mothers are left with nothing to care for their homes just because they work in private schools.
I remember those days when I was a teacher. I never worked in a school where the proprietor and management were inhumane. The first school where I worked in 2004, I could remember vividly that during the holidays, the schools did share any money we made during the holiday lesson with us. In fact, the school made sure her staff got 75 per cent of their salary during those six weeks. The school allowed teachers and students to come from 9 a.m. till 1 p.m. for a month and gave a break of one week for staff and two weeks for students. Throughout my stay in that school, that was the norm. In another school around same axis where I also worked, the same thing applied as the school also paid us during the holidays. Even though it was not full salaries, teachers and other workers in the school were still given a large part of their salaries so as to be able to care for their families.
Later, when I left Ibadan for Lagos State, all the schools I joined when I was in Ikorodu also shared a certain percentage of the holiday lesson fees with us. At CVC, that’s another school at Agodo, Ikorodu, they paid us our full salary. That was the first school where I worked where the management made sure we got our full dues, holidays or not. The owner relocated to Nigeria from the United Kingdom after working abroad for many years and that might have influenced the way he treated his staff. He was a very nice boss. So, I never worked in a school where the school authorities didn’t pay during the holiday. Later, I stopped working during August. I told them I would not work during the long holidays and it was part of the contract I normally signed before I worked in any school. I would tell them that “my August, I want to use it to rest.” I used the break to rest and help my children with their academics.
It is not so with many of my friends in other schools both in Ibadan and Lagos states. Many of them lament that they do not get paid at all throughout the holiday period. Many of them persevere because of the fear of being laid off without having another option. I had a chat with some teachers some days ago; it is so sad that it is still the same story. The majority of school owners do not pay their staff for the six-week break in many parts of the country even though the salaries are way below expectations. The non-availability of jobs in the country has pushed many to these private schools and they agree to the outrageous terms and conditions. A lot of these schools employ anybody, even if you have no knowledge as an educationist, and treat them as they like. A lot of schools ask teachers to be in school as early as 7:00 a.m. till 6:00 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. It is very appalling that many schools will overwork their teachers during school period and will still refuse to give them their salaries just because it is holiday period. How do they survive?
This is my grouse with all these private schools managements. No government establishment will treat its educators that way. The staff are protected by labour laws and the government should do everything possible to make sure they are treated right. The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) should also ensured that the interest of its members is protected at all times. Does it mean many of the teachers in private schools are being maltreated because there is no union to fight their cause? Some of these private school owners behave like mini-gods. You starve your staff for a whole month without remorse! And you and your family will be eating and you’ll be comfortable. You don’t even think that they also have families that they have to cater for.
It brings me to the question: Is there no way a body can be created to also guide the affairs of private schools in Nigeria? Does it mean labour laws cannot be extended to them? And to think the schools pay their teachers outrageous salaries. Some teachers in private schools earn as low as N15,000 in a country where the minimum wage is N70,000! Private school teachers should be treated well and I think it’s high time the government did something about this. Nigerians should be made to know that if you know you cannot be an employer of Labour that has all it takes to be one in terms of finances, then stop having schools. You don’t treat people like animals for a whole 30 days and expect them to be happy. There should be strict laws guiding employment in private schools and a law making it mandatory for the managements to do right by their staff.
•Ishola is on the staff of the Nigerian Tribune
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