The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) yesterday said it lost 37 teachers in Tuesday’s suicide bomb attack at the Sabon-Gari Local Government Secretariat in Kaduna State.
The NUT President, Micheal Olukoya, who made the disclosure yesterday, said many other teachers who were victims of the blast, are currently receiving treatment in various health centres in the state.
According to him, 272 teachers have so far died in the hands of Boko Haram insurgents in Borno State while over 19,000 others have been displaced in the Northeast since the outbreak of the insurgency.
Olukoya spoke in Abuja at a programme to commemorate the NUT Founders Day.
He, therefore, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to curb the insurgency.
The NUT president tasked the government on the need to tilt its development programmes in favour of education just as he called for a review of the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years.
Mr. Olukoya argued that the retirement age of university lecturers and judges was recently raised from 65 to 70years because of the assumption that they tend to perform better, having garnered enough experience in the course of service.
“The older the teacher, the more caring and tolerant he is to the students with improved dexterity in the pedagogy of teaching acquired over time.
“We, therefore, wish to restate our demand that the retirement age of primary and secondary school teachers in the country be raised from 60 to 65 years”, Olukoya said.
