Teachers Retirement Age: FG, Stakeholders Agree with Hon. Adekoya

The Minister for Education, Malam Adamu Adamu and other stakeholders in the education industry on Thursday aligned with the bill sponsored by the Ogun State lawmaker Hon. Adekoya Adesegun Abdel-Majid to rethink the retirement age of teachers in Nigeria and push to sixty-five (65).

At the public hearing with stakeholders on the Harmonised Retirement Age for Teachers in Nigeria Bill, 2018 which was sponsored by the Ogun State lawmaker, representing the Ijebu North/Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside Federal Constituency, all the stakeholders present agree that a review of teachers retirement aga is long overdue.

The bill which has passed through the first and second reading on the floor of the Green Chamber makes provision for the retirement age for Teachers in the country both at the Primary and Secondary school level of education to 65.

According to Honourable Adekoya, "experience is a key element in the transmission of knowledge and the services of teachers who have been trained with the Commonwealth of the nation cannot be quickly disengaged. The older they are the better. This will also afford them ample opportunity to mentor other younger teachers on the job.

"If the retirement age of judges and other professionals are put at 70, there is no reason why teachers could not stay longer on their jobs to be of service to the nation.

"The option of early retirement is there for those who wants to do other things, but the teaching profession goes beyond the transmission of knowledge, it involves the moulding of characters of the younger citizens and this knowledge and temperament to handle the vulnerable also comes with age". He said.

According to Honourable Adekoya, the retirement age of teachers in several other countries of the world including the USA, UK, France, Finland, Norway, Netherland, Libya, Israel, Canada, India, Brazil, Belgium, Germany and other developed nations ranges from 65 and 70 years, and Nigeria cannot be any different.

Stakeholders present at the public hearing to support the passage of the bills include the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Parents-Teachers Association (PTA), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Nigerian Teachers Institute (NTI) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).