A private teacher retires – and has nothing to show for it

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In 1999, I started teaching at a private school, following my secondary school education. My salary then was N1000. It was something that was barely enough to sustain me, even for one week. I usually walked to that school to teach, trekking for about 20 kilometers.

 

Sometimes, I would feel like begging my students for food, during lunch break. The teacher was hungry, and the students had food, given to them by their parents.

 

Despite the fact that the money paid per month was too small, the school owed me consistently.

 

Before I started working as a teacher, I was sustaining myself through hard labor. My teenage years were particularly hard as I had to carry bricks, soil, firewood, etc. in order to earn a living.

 

When people complain of hardships, I usually laugh, because hardships have been in existence for time immemorial; the noise just got louder.

 

I decided to utilize my secondary school education because I was getting tired of labor jobs, especially because you might work hard in the hot sun and you wouldn’t get paid that day, and you would go to bed hungry.

 

Nothing to show for twenty years of teaching

A private teaching job is easy to get but it is one of the poorest paying jobs in my country. Only a few schools can pay sizeable amount of money.

 

Public school teachers are better off, as they have job security, higher pay and pension plans. Private school teachers get hired and fired at will, and they get owed a lot.

 

I taught at some private schools, but taught mostly from house to house. Most people call me “Uncle.” There was respect, but there was no money.

 

Some parents appreciated and paid promptly. A few paid well, and most paid low.  Some parents bought extra foods for me or gave me extra gifts. Some parents disappointed me and some owed me.

 

I have been insulted by some students and some parents. I have been appreciated by some students and some parents.

 

Some parents owed me and carried the debt to their grave and some parents wanted me to continue teaching their kids when it was clear that they couldn’t pay. Some parents fired me abruptly and I fired myself in some cases because parents couldn’t pay.

 

Some of my formers students have become louts; some have given births to unwanted children. Some former students have graduated and attained higher education than me, and some have made commendable achievements in life.

 

When some of my former students see me, they greet me heartily and some shun and avoid me when they see me.

 

Nothing to show for many years of teaching labor, save the fact that I was able to keep the body and the soul together. I had to save money for 5 years before I could rent a one-room apartment in a ramshackle face-me-I-slap you building.

 

There was a plastic mat on the floor, with a cloth hanger and books. Yes, lot of books: But no television, no video, no chairs and table.

 

The beginning of my breakthrough

Online trading and online business are a real game changer in my life. Online business and activities like Forex, Binary Options, Cryptos investments, advisory services and e–currency exchange eventually lifted me out poverty and make me financially self-sufficient.

 

Without online business, I would be riding a motorcycle or a Marwa (motor tricycle) for a living. That is why you need to take chances if you don’t want to spend the rest of your life as a post-office clerk.

 

The lot of the private teacher now is much more dismal than it was about 20 year ago. Parents are now poorer and the teaching job is more glutted than ever.

 

Any joy in teaching?

Yes, there is joy. There is fulfilment. The only thing is that I loved what I was doing and had passion for it. It satisfied my heart. It is a good thing to see those you tutored in the past, reaching maturity and becoming responsible adults and attaining higher heights.

 

Apart from that, I hate to think that the rewards of the teacher are in heaven.

 

I was single when I depended largely on teaching; but now that I have mouths to feed and heavy responsibilities on me, private teaching can never sustain me again.

 

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