How teachers can navigate 2025 with less financial tears

Nigeria is currently grappling with the worst cost of living crisis in nearly 30 years, with everyday looking more difficult than the previous ones.

The prices of commodities are consistently on the rise with no hope of coming down any time soon. House rent, feeding and other utility bills are also surging to the high heavens. Landlords are now mini-‘gods’ as they are busy inflating rents across cities.

Besides, there is no hope or assurance that salaries will be increased anytime soon. Worst still, even if the salary is increased by 50 percent it will still not be able to meet the surging daily financial need of an average teacher.

These ugly developments leave one wondering what the hope of the masses, especially teachers employed in some private schools would be.

In as much as teaching is a noble career that provides one some exclusive skill set such as the ability to work with youngsters of various ages and abilities, if it is not augmented with adequate financing, the teacher becomes frustrated.

Teachers can scale through the excruciating economic crunch in 2025, by blending their career with supplementary services such as;

Tutoring/Home teaching services:

There is no better time to embrace Chinua Achebe’s philosophy “If the hunter boasts that he has learnt to shoot without missing, Eneke the bird will tell him that it too has learnt to fly without perching.”

If the economic hardship is not ready to subside, the wise thing to do is to embrace ‘side-hustles’.

Tutoring is one way to use one’s teaching skills and experiences outside the four walls classroom. A teacher can use his or her skills to offer services to students outside school hours as a side business.

Teachers can do this as independent business connecting with families looking for high-quality private tutors with specific qualifications and experience, or align with schools after the usual school hours.

Develop revision materials:

The ability to organise revision materials will invariably help a teacher earn more money. Revision materials are workbooks and sheets that students use to revise specific topics and areas that are likely to appear in their future examinations.

Compiling and publishing revision materials that parents and students would download for a fee, is a good way to start a small business that can boost a teacher’s income in addition to the classroom work.