Why do Nigerian children no longer aspire to become teachers?

When you ask a room full of young children today what they want to be when they grow up, you get a familiar, ambitious chorus: tech entrepreneurs, content creators, pilots, doctors, software or aeronautic engineers. But lately, I have noticed that one answer has quietly vanished from their lips: “I want to be a teacher.”

This reality weighed heavily on my mind as World Teachers’ Day 2026 arrived. This year, the global community is marking the 60th anniversary of recognising the vital role educators play. Six decades of protecting the profession and advancing its status, yet, right here in Nigeria, an irony persists. 

How did the noble ‘architects’ of our society become so systematically undervalued? More so, in an era dominated by Artificial Intelligence, how do we prevent the African classroom from being left behind entirely?

To make sense of these questions, I decided to seek out an expert who understands the system. Karibi George, a certified teacher, communications professional, legal practitioner, and retired Director of Administration and Supplies at the Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board, RSUBEB, provided some answers.

The Historical Wound and the Loss of Dignity

George validated my concerns, tracing the decline back through decades of policy missteps.

“It is ironic that the 60th anniversary of the world recognising the importance and place of teachers in our lives is a time when children are no longer aspiring to be teachers, and it's also the time where the rest of the society doesn't appear to have regard for teachers,” he said.

He explained that the erosion of respect set in during Nigeria’s Second Republic, when governments first began defaulting on teachers’ salaries.

“I think part of the problem, particularly in Nigeria, could be traced to the Second Republic, when it was common for governments to owe teachers salaries. That was the first time. And then secondly, other experiments that have been done, such as transferring the payment of the salaries of primary school teachers to local governments, also exacerbated the problem.

“Fortunately, in Rivers State, there has been a harmonization starting from the Amaechi regime, so teachers are also paid directly along with the civil servants in the state.”

However, George was quick to point out that the crisis is not entirely external; part of it comes from within the profession itself.

“Part of the problem of the image of teachers in Nigeria might also be traced to the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria. The Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria ought to be a body according teachers professional recognition and, therefore, making them proud. 

“I am a certified teacher by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria, and while introducing myself or writing my name in full, I usually include the post-nominal CT, meaning Certified Teacher. But a number of teachers who are indeed registered by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria do not recognize that that post-nominal is something that they really need to be proud of and show off to the rest of the world, establishing their professional status as teachers.”

Compounding this self-worth issue is a broader shift in societal values. He noted that the iconic, revered role models of the past have, in many cases, been swept up in modern materialism, stripping away the quiet authority educators once held over their communities.

“The general decay in Nigeria, where, you know, people, teachers that used to be our role models, the people we feared, the people we respected, the people we relied upon entirely for virtually every kind of counsel are now also so materialistic that they have lost that aura of being next to God. 

“So, all these are factors combining to make or cause a decline in the manner we used to value and evaluate teachers in the past.”

The AI Revolution vs. Broken Infrastructure

Thinking about the future, I asked him about the impact of technology. Today’s classrooms demand innovation and digital literacy. However, many Nigerian classrooms remain shackled by dilapidated buildings and a sheer lack of basic tools.

“Just a couple of months ago, I had an opportunity to share my thoughts with experts in educational management over what was termed the education in the fourth industrial revolution, and the fourth industrial revolution is, of course, the technological AI period.

“A number of issues arose in the course of that conversation. One of them is the infrastructure deficit. And the infrastructure deficit had to do not just with the power sector, which is nothing to write home about in Nigeria, but also the fact that there was no clear roadmap regarding the deployment of Information and Communication Technology in our schools in Nigeria.

“I also made the observation that as much as the Universal Basic Education Commission in Abuja has been making efforts in that direction, we still haven't got the right results,” he said.

George shared a telling example in Rivers State, where the building of a flagship ‘smart school’ which was conceived in Ozuoba, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area, in collaboration with the South Korean government remains unfinished years after inception.

“For instance, some years ago, a smart school, which is supposed to be, you know, practically a computer-based school, was conceived for virtually all the states of the Federation, and Rivers State was also designated one of the beneficiaries of that project.

“The project started in Ozuoba, Obio-Akpor Local Government Area. But as I speak with you right now, that project is yet to be completed. Now, we understand the Korean government collaborated with the Nigerian government in presenting computer equipment for that school. We know that computer equipment, software, and so on, keep changing so regularly that what was donated that is yet to be put in that structure would probably have been outdated by now.”

The root cause, as he sees it, comes down to an enduring budget tragedy. Allocations to education routinely fall short of UNESCO benchmarks, but worse still is the failure to actually release approved funds.

“Let's also look at where the fundamental problem is: the implementation of the budget. First of all, the budgetary appropriation to the education sector often falls far below UNESCO standards and prescriptions. But even what is appropriated is hardly released. So, you find yourself in a situation where the percentage of what was appropriated two years ago by now is still somewhere in the neighborhood of less than 20%.

“So, in such a situation, how do you expect the aspirations and objectives in terms of equipment to be realised, or even in terms of training, bringing all these teachers and others who are supposed to benefit to understand the use of this technology so that they can actually use it in favour of the children that they teach?

“So, we have fundamental problems, particularly relating to budgeting and implementation of budgets. And then, we also have the ancillary problem of lack of adequate infrastructure, whether relating to power or relating to the equipment proper.

"Until these are resolved, our teachers will have difficulty competing with the rest of the world in terms of their competence with modern technology,” he added.

Taking Control of the Future

Despite the systemic neglect, our conversation ended on a resilient note. George highlighted the educators who refuse to wait for government intervention. He commended teachers funding their own ICT training, mastering digital tools, and transforming their classrooms against all odds.

He also mentioned that some non-governmental organisations and international partners are stepping in to bridge the gap where government policy falls short.

“This is not to denigrate those who, on their own, with their own resources, keep upgrading themselves, learning how to use these equipment, and personally paying for private training programs for themselves so that they could improve.

“And then we also have, of course, the effort being made by NGOs and some international partners in helping our teachers become acquainted with these new technologies and their implications for teaching and learning activities, which ought to be more interactive right now, rather than the rote method that the teacher merely just spews forth and then the children are expected to make the same return in the exam.”

For George, World Teachers' Day 2026 is both a salute to his resilient colleagues and a sobering call to action. 

“Now, the emphasis is on innovation, independence, innovation on the part of the learners. And if these teachers are not exposed to this new method of teaching and learning, then it follows that they can't be of meaningful impact on the next generation.

“We have had stories of people barely in their teens innovating, particularly with regard to technology. If they don't have teachers who can open up the space and their imagination to do such things, then Nigeria will continue to be on a back footing with regards to the things that are happening in the world.

“So, while I congratulate all Nigerian teachers, particularly my colleagues, on this occasion of the World Teachers' Day 2026, I would like to also urge them to personally and individually try to improve themselves, because merely relying on the government will not help them attain all that they are capable of doing in the interest of learners.”

My conversation with George was a reminder that while it seems Nigerian children no longer aspire to become teachers due to the dwindling status of the profession, the future of our classrooms ultimately rests on our collective willingness and that of educators themselves, to rebuild the profession.