and students in Imo State as teachers recruited under Governor Rochas
Okorocha'sYouth Must Workprogramme have abandoned the students over
non-payment of their monthly salaries for seven months.
After sacking more than 5000 teachers employed by his predecessor in
2011, Governor Okorocha had through the newly established Community
Government Council, CGC, recruited about 7000 primary and secondary
school teachers in November 2013 with monthly salary of N20,000 to
each of the teachers.
He also promised to make their job permanent after six months probation.
But, investigations revealed that 15 months later, the teachers are
still under probation and their N20,000 salaries stopped while they
are still teaching.
A visit to some of the schools across the state showed that only
principals and vice principals or head teachers were in schools and
sometimes they came to schools once a week.
When our reporter visited secondary and primary schools in Umuapu in
Ohaji Egbema LGA, Amaraku, Amaigbo and Abba in Nwangele LGA, Omuma and
Amiri in Oru East LGA and others, it was shocking to note that most of
the teachers employed by the governor to replace those he sacked in
2011 were no longer motivated to work.
In some of the schools where teachers still came to school, some of
them who spoke to our reporter lamented that their salaries were
stopped since August 2014 and that they were being owed about seven
months.
One of them who identified himself as Ozodi told our reporter that
the situation had become so unbearable for him because he left his
fairly-paid job at MTN and joined the teaching job because it came
from the state government.
According to Ozodi who was posted to teach at Technical Secondary
School, Omuma in Oru East council area of the state, "Before I
returned to join in the teaching job, I was being paid N30,000 at MTN.
But, I left it to join this teaching job because the MTN job doesn't
have security and moreover I have a degree in education. So, because
of this as well as the promises made to us by Governor Rochas Okorocha
that the job will be a permanent one, I left the job I was doing
before".
He lamented that instead of satisfying job opportunity "the governor
is now making people like us to regret losing our jobs to come home
and work in the state. He promised to make our job permanent. This is
one year and three months, nothing has been heard from him. The worst
is that he stopped the payment since more than six months now. This is
a man who showed us on national TV that he has given us jobs and up
till now the job is not defined and money is not being paid to us. I
have finished all my savings working for Governor Okorocha as a
teacher and yet I don't get paid for it".
Another teacher who identified herself as Amaka told our reporter
that she resigned from her job from a private secondary school "only
to behold this kind of wickedness from our own governor.
Amaka who teaches at Amaraku Secondary School in Isiala Mbano LGA
"The governor scored a huge political point when he engaged us as
teachers because many people in my community still don't believe that
he is not paying us. I don't know why he should treat us like this
knowing the importance of the kind of job we do".
Also in Nwangele LGA, Chioma who is teaching at Abba Central School
Abba, lamented that since their stipends were stopped last August, "my
husband has refused to be giving me transport money to school and I
only go to school once in a week. As I'm talking to you now, I am
seriously looking for a job. This man called Rochas has destroy the
trust we used to have in government before now and it is rather
unfortunate".
The teachers therefore called on Governor Okorocha to hasten to pay
them their seven months stipend rather than trying to use them for
election.
It was gathered that most of the schools, like Central School, Egwedu
Atta, Technical Secondary School, Amucha both in Njaba LGA, have only
headmasters or principals without teachers as the teachers employed
between 2007 and 2011 were sacked by Okorocha.
Continue reading at 247ureports:
http://247ureports.com/imo-pupils-suffer-neglect-as-teachers-abandon-schools-over-unpaid-7-months-salary/
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