Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
Ekiti State government has released N146 million for the payment of Rural Teachers Allowance and Core Subjects Allowance to teachers in its employ.
A total of 6,203 teachers from both primary and secondary schools serving in rural areas and those teaching core subjects are the beneficiaries.
Ekiti State Deputy Governor Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi described the gesture as a “further demonstration of the present administration’s commitment to the welfare of teachers and ensure meaningful development in education sector.”
In a statement on Wednesday signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Odunayo Ogunmola, Egbeyemi assured that the Kayode Fayemi administration places a high premium on the welfare of state workers and would ensure the timely payment of salary arrears.
The payment of the special allowances covers three-month arrears of October, November and December 2018.
A total of 3,314 teachers serving in rural areas received 77,352,843.75, while total of 2,889 core subjects teachers got N68,718,214.90.
Core Subjects Allowance is paid to public school teachers teaching Mathematics, English Language, Physics, Chemistry and Biology, while Rural Teachers Allowance is paid to teachers who serve in rural communities.
The two allowances, which came on stream during the first tenure of Governor Fayemi, are outside the normal monthly salaries paid to teachers by the state government.
Egbeyemi urged teachers to reciprocate the gesture and cooperate with the Fayemi administration by putting in their best in order to regain the lost glory of the state’s education system.
The deputy governor allayed fears that the administration plans on sacking teachers, making assurances that more teachers would be employed as soon as possible.
He said that the state’s education sector has enjoyed a new lease on life since the start of the new Fayemi administration, listing such reforms as an Executive Order banning collection of illegal levies in public schools and the release of N200 million housing and car loans to teachers.
Others reforms highlighted inlude the payment of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) fees for 13,000 final year students in public secondary schools, purchase of 3,000 Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) forms for Ekiti youths, and the procurement of 552 laptops for selected secondary schools.