Wole Balogun, Ado Ekiti
Ekiti State Government has released N146 million for the payment of rural teachers and core subjects allowances to teachers in its employ.
About 6,203 teachers from both primary and secondary schools serving in rural areas and those teaching core subjects are the beneficiaries.
Deputy Governor, Otunba Bisi Egbeyemi, described the gesture as a further demonstration of the administration’s commitment to the welfare of teachers and ensuring meaningful development in education sector.
In a statement, yesterday, by his Special Assistant on Media, Odunayo Ogunmola, Egbeyemi assured that Governor Kayode Fayemi’s administration places high premium on workers’ welfare and ensures timely payment of their salary arrears.
The payment of the special allowances covers three-month’s arrears of October, November and December 2018.
A total of 3,314 teachers serving in rural areas got N77,352,843.75, while 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 offered to serve in rural communities.
The two allowances, which came on stream during the first tenure of 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 administration of Fayemi, by putting in their best to regain the lost glory of the state in education. He allayed the fear of the Fayemi administration sacking teachers as peddled by the opposition, and, rather, assured that more teachers will be employed as soon as possible.
The deputy governor noted that the education sector has been enjoying a new lease of life since the coming to power of the Fayemi administration.