The reward was meant to be a moment of pride — a symbol of excellence in teaching. But within a week, the celebration turned into a quiet struggle for survival.
At a recent education summit in Lagos, the Registrar of the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), Dr Ronke Soyombo, shared a story that captured the harsh reality faced by many private school teachers in Nigeria.
She recalled how an award-winning teacher, honoured with a car for outstanding performance, was later seen walking on the road shortly after receiving the gift.
Curious, she asked what had happened to the vehicle.
“He said he had sold it. When I asked why, he said he was being paid N20,000 monthly,” she recounted.
The moment, she said, reflects a deeper crisis in the private education sector — where recognition does not always translate into financial stability.
Soyombo made the remarks at the Annual Summit of the Conference for Private School Associations held in Lagos, themed “Transformation of Education in Lagos State.”
According to her, some teachers in private schools still earn as little as N20,000 monthly, a wage she described as unacceptable in a country grappling with rising living costs.
She stressed that improving teachers’ welfare remains essential to raising educational standards, noting that teachers are the foundation of any quality education system.
“If we want good service, we have to pay teachers well,” she said. “For us to get quality service from good teachers and stop them from looking left and right, we must improve their conditions of service.”
Her concern goes beyond individual cases. Soyombo pointed to a wider system where poor remuneration continues to weaken teacher motivation and retention, especially in private schools.
She noted that while school proprietors often fear losing trained staff to better-paying institutions, the solution lies in creating fair and sustainable working conditions.
“We have to look at the conditions of service and make teachers the cornerstone of a quality educational system,” she said.
The TRCN registrar also warned that many education reforms in Nigeria fail because teachers are not placed at the centre of policy implementation.
“Teachers remain the cornerstone of quality education systems. A lot of people try to improve education while ignoring the teachers from the outset,” she added.
Beyond salaries, she called for stronger regulation, continuous professional development, and improved safeguarding systems, including mechanisms to report misconduct and abuse within the profession.
She also revealed ongoing efforts to digitise teacher registration and certification processes, alongside plans for a mobile application to improve access nationwide.
But it was the image of a rewarded teacher returning to financial hardship that lingered most strongly, a reminder that applause and awards mean little when daily survival remains uncertain.
EduTimes Africa, a product of Education Times Africa, is a magazine publication that aims to lend its support to close the yawning gap in Africa's educational development.