Hello friends, I am excited to be here this day to do this Social Empowerment Advocacy. Thank you for all your comments and likes. It is lifting that you come here daily to be blessed by what we do.

It is Friday and it is my last piece for the week. I will share with you the 8^th fact to consider before you register your child in a school: Consider the working conditions of service of the academic and non-academic staff. One truth we must accept as a matter of necessity is that the working conditions have a fundamental role to play in the performance of the staff of any organisation. Input will always determine output. When I say conditions of service, I refer to work hours, remuneration, other benefits (including pension), retirement plan, freedom of expression, disciplinary measures and the rest of it.

What are the work hours of the members of staff including teachers? I recommend as daily work hours, 7 hours for teachers and 8 or 9 hours for non-teachers. I also recommend that if what whatever reason the members of staff are to work extra hours, they should be paid an overtime allowance.  Why did I recommend lesser work hour for teachers? It is because in most cases, their workload goes beyond the school hours. They would need to prepare for the next day. The truth of the matter is that preparation is very fundamental to effective teaching.  When the work hour is not respected teachers and others in the school system to not have time to prepare and rest for the next day of work and this has serious impact on their output and their output has unimaginable impact on the pupils. If for whatever reason the members of staff have to put in extra hours, I think they should be paid an overtime allowance.

The next issue is the nature of the remuneration. It has been said that ‘good teachers are costly, but bad teachers cost more.’ The truth is that a school will always get the services of the kind of teachers it pays for. Better put, a school will always get the services of the kind of workforce it pays for. While there are many sources of influence to the child within the school system, permit me to focus more on the teachers. As far as I am concerned the number one client of a school are the teachers and not the parents. The teachers have direct link with the pupils on daily basis. The only product of the school is the pupil and the best advertisement any organisation can have is the state of its products.  Therefore, if the school wants to boast of good products, it must pay attention to the remuneration of teachers. It is important that teachers are well paid. It is not the case in this part of the world. Published on the website, http://www.worldsalaries.org is an article titled, Teacher Salaries – International Comparison. The article did a comparative analysis of teachers’ salaries in 26 countries.  The United States of America tops the international rating list. The average monthly salary of a teacher in the United States of America is put at $ 5, 266.  The teacher puts in 36. 6 hours weekly. His or her job descriptions include: (i) prepares annual programmes of work for classes in secondary education establishment; (ii) gives instruction and conducts discussions; (iii) maintains discipline in class; (iv) prepares, assigns and corrects exercises; (v) sets, administers and marks tests and examinations; (vi) reports on pupil progress to head teacher and parents. The last country rated is European country known as Romania. It is curious that no African country is rated.

I think this 8^th fact is quite big. Please permit me to round it up here. I will continue here on Monday by the mercies of God. Have an INSPIRED weekend and stay INSPIRED.