The Federal Ministry of Education in Nigeria has stated on Monday that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities has hindered the payment of bursaries to university students
Andrew Adejo, the ministry’s permanent secretary, announced this during the 2022 World Teachers Day press conference in Abuja.
Recall that the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) embarked on a Nationwide strike on the 14th February 2022.
In 2021, it was reported that President Buhari promised to provide bursaries to students studying education in universities and colleges of education.
“B.Ed/B.A. Ed/BSc. Ed students in public institutions will receive stipends of N75,000.00 per semester, while NCE students will receive stipends of N50,000.00 per semester.”
“The Federal Government should find a way for respective state governments to provide automatic employment for NCE graduates at the Basic Education level,” Buhari said through his education minister, Adamu Adamu.
Adejo stated in his statement, “The implementation of the payment of stipends has begun.” However, due to the strike, we were unable to obtain data on all university students. We only have 7% of the necessary data to process for payment.
“It is necessary to state here that the national implementation of the New National Teaching Policy has begun.” It is a comprehensive package that will eventually address the career path, remuneration, professional teaching standards, teacher qualification, deployment, and management.
“The theme for the year 2022 WTD, ‘the transformation of education, begins with teachers,’ emphasizes the importance of empowering teachers for effective transformation of education to ensure quality teaching and learning, as well as galvanize technological advancements to meet the ever-changing needs for national growth and development.”
