Parents beg union, council on speedy resolution

Some parents in Kuje Area Council of FCT have called on the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Kuje Area Council to reach a workable resolution to enable primary school pupils resume classes in the area.
The parents, who made the call in separate interviews with the newsmen in Kuje, said the strike was having negative impact on the pupils and appealed for speedy resolution.
Newsmen recalls that the primary school teachers in Kuje had on Monday embarked on an indefinite strike over failure by the area council to meet some demands of the union.
The union through its Chairman, Mr Audu Lucky, had listed the demands as: the non-payment of salaries to 2018 recruited teachers whose salaries were abruptly stopped by the council chairman in September 2022.
”Submission of the agreed template of payment of LEA teacher’s arrears to the JAAC Secretariat and continuation of the payment to concerned teachers.
”Payment of salary to 2022 reabsorbed teachers, who have been working through January to December 2022 without salary.”
However, Mrs Sarah Luka, a parent at Chukuku community, called on both the union and the council chairman to convene and proffer adequate solution and help resolve the lingering teachers strike.
“Our children in public primary schools are losing their most active and creative time, while children in other Area Councils have resumed school.
“We make this call in the overriding interest of our children, but more particularly for the huge number of pupils in public schools in Kuje,” she said.
Another parent at Paseli area, Mr Emmanuel Zaki, said: “Sadly, the children of wealthy people attend private schools or study abroad; they do not feel the distress and torment of the ordinary parents.
“We also want to call for a law mandating State actors and their nuclear families to attend only public schools while in office.”
Also, Mr Silas Lagi, a parent at Pegi area, feared that the strike would make children to shift focus to other things that they did not budget for.
“My only pain is that the people in government are not feeling it because their own children are not in public schools but in private schools,” he said.
Meanwhile, the statetement affirmed that the union had directed all primary school teachers in the area to stay away from their duty posts while parents are advised to keep their children and wards safe at home.
The Kuje Area Council is yet to react to the development, but newsmen gathered that the council would meet with the NUT leadership today (Jan. 13).