By Glory Thomas
Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Oto/Ijanikin (AOCOED), Lagos has celebrated the Wold Teachers’ Day.
The event featured educationists within and outside the institution. They spoke on issues ranging from teacher remuneration, poor infrastructure, poor morale, entry point for education programmes; teaching practice (TP), human capacity development, and politicisation of employment in the profession, among others.
Moderator of the event Dr Bunmi Odedina of the Department of Theatre Arts, was the first to pose the question: ‘’Are teacher, rewards still in heaven?’’
Aside the often-discussed poor salary and other emoluments, increased enrolment and proliferation of private school are some of the major factors that have affected quality education delivery, Odedina said.
Provost of the college, Dr Omolola Aina Ladele, frowned at the profession, which according to her, has ‘moved from the foreground to the background’, and has become a dumping ground for those who could not study other programmes of their choice.
Ladele craved more recruitment and training for her colleagues in view of the surge in enrolment, especially at the basic level globally, and the need to give this bracket of learners sound education.
“The quality of teachers will be compromised, if we cannot get enough teachers into our classrooms. For beginning teachers, research has indicated that the first five years are the most difficult; hence a lot of support during these years. Some issues they struggle with are knowledge of the subject content and classroom strategies, choice of assessment tools; handling of relationship with students; teachers, school environment and ethical issues.”
Director of Teaching Practice (TP) Dr Durojaiye Saheed bemoaned absence of quality assurance that was once accorded TP in the 70s and 80s.
Durojaiye recalled that during the 70s, students, who performed poorly in TP were asked to repeat the exercise until they got it right. Then, some of the best brains were considered for teaching, a factor Durojaiye attributed to the high quality education delivery.
He said:“During my time, TP was never to be taken for TP used to be taken with utmost seriousness. Once you performed poorly (in TP), you may have to repeat it again. So, as a pre-service teacher, we all must learn to do it right.
“We also used to have some of the best brains in education. But over time, quality was compromised. Recruitment process also became lopsided. We used to have the very best employed to teach our children but now, almost everything is being politicised. It all depends on who you know.”
A retired principal, Mr Akin Samuel, urged teachers to show dedication to their calling as well as be business minded.
“The economic problem has affected education; and teachers are the major victims because of the poor take home. This does not allow them to unleash their full potential to the benefits of the children,’ he said.’
Samuel noted that private schools were few in the 70s and 80s, lamenting that their proliferation has led to recruitment of quacks by shrewd school owners to circumvent standard.
Simeaon Fowowe who teaches at the college School of Early Child Care Education (ECCE), noted that findings had shown that teachers who were entrepreneurial-minded shown more passion to their profession than others who don’t.
“If you spend five days teaching children every other week, use the weekends to do something else, you could organise private lessons for some children or engage in petty business. We have often discovered that teachers who make additional cash to their monthly income are a lot happier with their jobs.”
Vice Principal (Academics) AOCOED International School Mrs Mercy Olawunmi Blessed, advised teachers to look beyond the poor pay package, and harsh economic condition so they don’t derail from giving their best to pupils.
‘’As a teacher that is worth his salt, do not allow remuneration to be the yardstick to your performance. Though we must all agree the poor pay can be frustrating, teachers should give their utmost performance. There is no way you will have commitment outside your profession that it will not affect your best,’’ she said.
Another participant Muyiwa Ashimolowo also of ECCE, suggested that in future editions, management should also inculcate teachers across private and public schools in the neighbourhood to such forum as a means of engendering cross fertilisation of ideas.
Leave a Reply