By Jacinta Nwachukwu, News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Ms Owoade Mariam, who scored 278 in the 2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), chose to study an education course.

Her decision elicited dispiriting reactions from some individuals.

“Why would someone so intelligent waste a score like that on Education?” “You should be studying Medicine; you deserve better.’’

Mariam’s experience is not an isolated case; many other candidates who choose to study education courses continue to attract such reactions.

These types of perception come from persons who feel the teaching profession is not dignifying.

Nonetheless, Mariam was neither discouraged nor distracted; she held on to her dream.

“My dream is to teach; to build minds; to change lives.

“But in Nigeria, when you say you want to teach, people act like you have failed, like you are unintelligent.

“First semester -12 courses: 11 As, 1 B; boom! The Head of Department of Physics offered me a department switch and a future job after M.Sc.

“I declined the offer not because it was not tempting; but because I knew myself and I knew I was not called to just chase titles; I was born to build futures,” she narrated.

At the 2025 annual policy meeting on admissions into tertiary institutions held recently, 150 was adopted as the benchmark (cut-off mark) for admission into universities and 100 for polytechnics and colleges of education.

The 100 cut-off for Colleges of Education has generated lots of concerns from education stakeholders.

They argue that teaching profession should be made attractive and not relegated to the background.

“We are out here screaming about half-baked teachers; why won’t they be half-baked when we admit students with 100 marks to train the nation’s future?

“You need more than 200 to study Law or Medicine; but just 100 to teach those who will become lawyers and doctors; this is madness,” they said.

According to them, a country that treats education like a dustbin for rejected students will never rise.

They say it was worrying to tell intelligent people they were too smart to teach.

Mr Paul Godwin, an Educationist with Secondary Education Board, opined that any school that was truly intentional about excellence would not gamble with teachers’ quality.

“We are raising thinkers, not just filling periods; teachers are not plan B; teachers are the main plan; a country that undervalues its educators has no business dreaming of development.

“We should stop thinking that brilliant students deserve better than education; education deserves brilliant students.

“Until we fix this narrative, we are going nowhere; Nigerian education system deserves the best; 100 cut-off mark for colleges of education is an insult,” Godwin said.

More so, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has urged President Bola Tinubu to prioritise teachers’ values and welfare to make the profession more attractive for the younger generation.

The National President of NUT, Comrade Audu Amba, urged the government to make the teacher a model and recognise the teaching profession as a pillar of societal advancement.

Amba frowned at the current situation where teaching was made a “Hobson’s choice” among admission and job seekers – an option not because it is your preferred choice, but because it is the only option available.

He said deliberate policies should be made to place teacher’s seat in front rows of other professions as well as making the teaching profession a preferred choice for youths.

Amba said many students had little or no passion for teaching profession.

He said it was most demonstrated when candidates scored low marks in the UTME.

According to him, when a candidate scores below the cut-off marks of first and second choice courses, he or she is often compelled to study education in order not to lose admission for the year.

“Today, in our secondary schools, everybody is scrambling to get 300 and above in the UTME so that he or she can study Medicine.

“The university system made it clear that before you read Medicine, you must score 300 marks and above; why are such rules not applicable to Education?

“Those students that want to study Medicine to become doctors, who taught and will still teach them, is it not the teacher?” he queried.

He said if the teacher was not sound, there was no way he or she could impact the knowledge and training needed by the child to study medicine.

“The normal thing should be that the best candidate that scored 300 should study education and teach.

“That is what is happening in some of the countries that have decided to change their direction, and that is why they are getting it right.

“A teacher should be very intelligent, knowledgeable and should be the best to impact knowledge,” he said

Amba urged the government to take a cue from other countries like Finland where teaching profession is highly valued, respected and made to attract many applicants.

According to him, Finland prioritises education and has systems that ensure teachers are respected professionals with a very high emolument and a strong sense of autonomy, stability and security in their work.

“In fact, if you go to Finland today, you will be proud to be called a teacher because the issue is that, teaching is not just lucrative, but even more challenging.

“But today in Nigeria, parents do not even encourage their children to go into teaching profession, even the students themselves.

“Go to classrooms; just ask little children in primary school: who wants to be a teacher? Hardly will you see anybody raising his or her hand.

“But ask who wants to be a doctor, lawyer, and engineer? They will raise their hands.

“Why is it so? Because they feel those are the professions that are valued, respected and well remunerated,” he said.

In all, analysts say the government should come up with policies to change the trend and psyche by making the teacher a role model and encouraging the best brains to embrace the profession.(NANFeatures)

***If used, please credit the writer and the News Agency of Nigeria.