Who Has It Better: Public or Private School Teachers?

Gloria Adesanya 10:44 - 07 October 2025

Public vs Private School Teachers in Nigeria

Both teachers love their work. Both are exhausted. But only one belongs to a union. Only one has a pension waiting. And only one can be fired tomorrow.

We love to compare schools in America to those in Nigeria based on their grading systems, graduation rates, ease of access, and campus structure.

However, a quieter contest unfolds right under our noses. Public schools versus private schools. It’s a debate that lives in staff rooms, a conversation about what it really means to have a good teaching job.

Both teachers love their work. Both are exhausted. But only one belongs to a union. Only one has a pension waiting. And only one can be fired tomorrow. When we ask which of them “has it better”, the answer depends on what we think teaching is supposed to be: a secure career, a calling, or something in between.

What Does “Better” Mean?

In Nigeria, the public vs. private school debate often revolves around prestige, fees, and infrastructure. Rarely do we pause to ask: how do their teachers fare? What does “better” even mean when teaching is both a profession and a vocation?

Is “better” higher pay? More stability? Freedom? Respect? Or a classroom where learning drives decisions? For many teachers, it is all of these or none.

Some long for the security of public service; others long for the creative space of a private institution. But what matters?

Pay, Perks, and the Price of Commitment

Many public school teachers are civil servants, with fixed salary scales, the possibility of increments, pensions (in some states), and fringe benefits for higher-ups like housing or allowances.

By contrast, private school teachers often accept lower base pay. Smaller mid-tier schools may offer as low as ₦40,000 a month; elite academies can pay five times that and even better than some public schools. Some offer perks like tuition discounts for staff children or free lunch weekly to soften the insecurity.

For example, Ms Victoria, a private school teacher with three years of experience, began her career in Abuja earning N150,000 and now makes ₦200,000. In contrast, Mr Idris, a Level 09 Education Officer 1 at a public school, with six years of experience, earns a basic salary of ₦145,000.

The key difference is that Mr Idris also receives a pension scheme and other allowances, boosting his total earnings to ₦197,293.39. To a low-tier private school teacher, like Mr Nyege, who earns N40,000 monthly, public school teachers appear to have it better. But is that truly the case?

Class Size & Chaos

Step into a random public school classroom on a Monday afternoon, and you’ll understand what “crowded” really means. The rooms are small and hot, and desks spill into the aisles. When the bell rings, the noise feels physical.

At private schools, the atmosphere is almost monastic. Ms Marylyn teaches four classes and two subjects, with the number of students ranging from twenty-five to thirty-five and seven periods per day. Mr Idris, a public school teacher, teaches eighteen classes containing 100 students in Business Studies only.

The smaller size allows teachers to notice the details and to teach through conversation rather than crowd control.

Workload and Class Control

school teacher feeling overwhelmed

Across all responses, one thing is clear: public school teachers generally cater to higher work demands. However, this is not to say some private school teachers don’t have their fair share of tasks.

Ms Marylyn, for instance, noted that at the close of business, which is usually around 4 pm-5 pm, she has tonnes of notebooks from over 100 students to mark, lesson notes to cover, and also needs to prepare for the next day's tasks as the HOD.

From the responses, I observed that private school teachers often complained of longer work hours. Ms Marylyn also mentioned she’d gladly switch from a private to a public school so she could maximise her time and leave work early to resume her other business, if possible, compared to the private parastatal where she works from 7:00 am to 6:00 pm.

In this case, “better” boils down to trade-offs. Minimal workload, minimal time for higher workload, extra time.

Career Progression

While a pension scheme is far removed from the reality of private school teachers interviewed, Ms Victoria explained what the career progression looks like for her at her work.

“They encourage us to take up courses and put us on PSGN: a British Council training for teachers. As people take up courses and get better, they are given opportunities to train others and subsequently given roles to take up: team lead, year head, key stage head, and department heads.”

At public schools, teachers experience slow promotion, are less likely to be promoted, and have zero to no motivation to improve their skills, not because they do not have the will, but due to exhaustion.

Job Security and the Weight of Unions

For public school teachers, security is both comfort and constraint. A secondary school teacher in Ogun state emphasised that “Public schools give you stability and job security.” It basically expresses the Yoruba proverb that says “Oga ta, oga o ta, owo alaaru a pe,” literally translated as: "Whether the boss sells or doesn’t sell, the labourer must be paid.”

Many private school teachers envy the stability of their public school counterparts but value the agility of their own environment.

Job security in public schools offers a shield from uncertainty, while in private schools, job insecurity can be the cost of freedom.

In Conclusion

Every teacher I spoke with, whether in public or private school, expressed a similar sentiment: they either love their job but wish for better pay and benefits, or they're only doing it out of necessity. One thing that consistently stood out was their exhaustion.

So, who truly has it better? The question becomes less clear the closer you examine it. Neither group of teachers has an easy time. In both environments, teachers are stretched thin, striving to create something meaningful with limited time and resources.

For many teachers, "better" translates to higher pay, stability, freedom, respect, and a classroom where learning drives decisions. And frankly, neither private nor public school teachers fully enjoy all of these aspects.