Public primary school teachers under the auspices of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Bayelsa on Wednesday called on Governor Seriake Dickson to save public primary education in the state from imminent collapse.

The teachers have therefore urged Dickson to prevail on local government councils to pay backlog of four month salaries owed primary school teachers in the state.

Their call was contained in a seven-point communique signed by Mr John Toinpre Kala-Ama, state NUT Chairman, Mr Johnson Hector, Principal Secretary, and Akanyo Timi, Publicity Secretary.

The 2016/2017 academic session was delayed for one month following a strike by the NUT over outstanding salaries. The teachers shifted grounds and suspended the strike following pledges by the government to prioritise payment of teachers’ salaries.

The communique was issued following an emergency meeting of the state wing of the union at Teachers House, Yenagoa.

They said the state government should assume its constitutional collaborative responsibility of augmenting the funding and management of the primary school system through the Universal Basic Education Programme.

The teachers also appealed to the state and local governments to quickly address the issues of payment of imprest to headmasters and equitable distribution of instructional materials for functional academic work.

Other problems, they stated, include acute shortage of teachers, non-implementation of promotions and annual increment for primary school teachers, among others.

They demanded that the NUT be also represented at the state education committee as directed by the government.

The teachers however threatened to revisit their suspended strike to paralyse the primary school system if their demands are not met.

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