The Nation Newspaper

Tag: teachers

  • Kogi teachers may return to school soon

    •Govt begins payment of arrears.

    Teachers in Kogi State public primary schools may resume at their duty posts following the payment of salary arrears by the state government.

    Interim Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Mr. Stephen Akwu, said he is optimistic that striking teachers will soon return to work, since the board has cleared the arrears owed since September 2013 up to February.

    “We have almost completed payment of February salary and in the process, payment for January came up, and I don’t know how that can be, because we have finished with that.

    “But, I wish to say that within the last three weeks or so, thousands of teachers whose names were omitted have been paid. As I am talking to you, March salary is almost ready,” he said.

    Pupils have been out of school since last year because teachers refused to work.  However, Akwu absolved the government of being responsible for the situation.

    “We never stopped the children from going to classes, but teachers said they were not strong enough to teach because of non-payment of their salary. Some of them said that the pupils were stronger than they were,” he said.

    After settling the salaries, Akwu said the board would embark on a verification exercise to check the sharp practices of teachers who also receive their pay check elsewhere.

    “Teachers are supposed to be shining light and beam of hope, but unfortunately, like in other areas of the society, there are some bad eggs.  There are some teachers working in Abuja and collecting salary here. So, we are going to embark on verification. What you don’t have you can’t give; we are going to embark on verification of certificates,” he said.

    Meanwhile, the state government is yet to reach a decision on the discovery of 800 ghost schools it is funding.

    The sham was discovered by the old SUBEB board in 2012 after the state directed the office of the Accountant-General to set up of a committee to verify the number of schools in its care.

    Akwu declined comments, saying it does not have the Accountant-General’s report on the case.

     

  • Exchange teachers praise schools

    Exchange teachers praise schools

    Two teachers who are on a week  exchange programme in the country have praised their host schools.

    The teachers – Ms Alice Player,  who teaches English&Literature, and her counterpart, Mr Daniel Kenway, a Technology teacher from DepFortgreen School, Lewinsham London – are part of the DFID Global School Partnerships (DGSP).

    On the programme, one of them said: “Thereare things you can’t learn from the textbook. You can’t relate the experience on paper. I am a teacher of English & Literature and for me, it is a fascinating experience trying to integrate Uganda culture and Nigerian culture to literature. Well, the fact is:  there is no one way that is right. It’s a platform like this that gives a child early form of education. Don’t forget that as teachers, our main concern is the child; we want to inspire and engage them. We want them to realise that learning is for every aspect of their lives.  There is something that you just cannot learn by reading books but you have to go and live it.”

    They said they would return home with fond memories of their experience in Nigeria and what their host Rainbow College in Asese-Maba, Ogun State offered them.

    The DGSP aims to raise young people’s awareness of global development and equip them with the skills and knowledge to become active global citizens.

    The programme supports mutual beneficial learning partnerships between schools in the UK and Africa, Asia, the Caribbean and Latin America, which seek to embed a global dimension in the curriculum. Under the deal, DepFortgreen School, St Kizito Kampala, Uganda and Rainbow College Nigeria encourage openness and access to partner schools.

    “It’s my first time here and everybody has been fantastic and wonderfully generous. For our one week stay, we visited various schools under Rainbow College and are amazed by the love, the diligence, respectfulness, inquisitiveness the teachers and particularly the students demonstrated,” said  Kenway while expressing his gratitude for Rainbow’s hospitality.

    Rainbow College Senior Principal, Mrs. Christiana Ebai, thanked the British Council, which initiated the DGSP and from which the trio have collaborated on projects, staff/student as well as curriculum exchange, exhibition, among others.

    The partnership, Ebai said, promotes teacher and student exchanges, curriculums and cultural exchanges. However most fascinating to Rainbow, is the window of access the college has to relate with East Africa, a practice she said is not too common as most commercial and educational issues are often done by Africans within their region.

    The three schools, Ebai said, have partnered on projects is various subjects, such as arts, geography science and English, to climax in a ‘face-to-face’ session, where the schools would engage in a comparative analysis of their experiences.

    She said: “We did a project in the UK where we visited varying market within our country to do comparative analysis of changes in food prices. We eventually met in our usual ‘face to face session’ where each school shared its experience; and we found that rates of food prices were not so different anywhere in the world.

    “Last session, we did a project on HIV where the three schools looked at the impact of virus on the world and sensitised youths on the scourge. We also did another one in Geography where each school looked at the three key areas of geography- physical, human and regional.

    “Last year, we had a joint arts exhibition showcasing artworks from the three schools which were brought together for a week-long art exhibition. On English, our theme was Africa with a select number of students that wrote poems on Africa which we co- published.”

    Rainbow Director of Studies Dr Abioye Laoye said the projects the school embarked on are submitted to the British Council in London which assesses it and if one is qualified, gives 15000 pounds grants to each school to cushion the effect of facilitating teachers on exchange programmes.

  • Edu District II celebrates teachers/pupils

    The Lagos State Education District II last week Tuesday, held its eigth annual merit award.  It was a memorable day for principals, teachers and students of the district who clinched one award or the other for outstanding performances in varying cadres.

    The annual event is set to encourage outstanding performance by both teaching and non-teaching staff as well as students in the district.

    Congratulating the awardees, the Tutor-General/Permanent Secretary Mrs Magret Solarin, congratulated the recipients whom she explained, must have gone through rigorous task before their emergence.

    “The joy of it is that you have all been identified and associated with altruistic traits such as diligence, innovativeness, loyalty, resourcefulness, resilience, honesty and high sense of responsibility. In essence, you have all been individually and collectively adjudged men and women; boys and girls of honour who are worthy of emulation.”

    Solarin also praised pupils of the district for their exemplary performance as reflected in their internal and external exams including quiz competitions.

    She, however, advised those who are yet to be nominated for the awards to brace up and strive for greater heights saying: “the reward of hard work is more hard work.”

    Solarin urged all to be security conscious considering the precarious security situation in the country.

    The Chairperson of the occasion, Abike Dabiri-Erewa, praised the Lagos State government for ensuring public schools in the state are attaining higher standards.

    And for the students, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye also saw light at the end of the tunnel.

    She said: “Tomorrow is there for them (students), the government is doing its bits. As much as they can do, they should continue to work very hard for their parents, for the community at large, and for the state government, while teachers should continue to work hard so that these children’s results get better.”

    Mrs Ogunniyi Abiodun from Oriwu Senior Model College Ikorodu, who won the best principal award (Senior Category) had this to say:

    “As a recipient of this award, I’m promising to continue to put in my best to move education in the state to the next level and be able to compete.

  • Students chase out teachers, workers

    Students chase out teachers, workers

    Students of the Edo State School of Nursing yesterday chased out their teachers and other workers to protest the appointment of a new principal.

    The students locked the gate and stopped people from coming in.

    Lectures were paralysed as the placard-carrying students vowed to continue the protest, until their demands are met.

    It was learnt that the new principal was to take over yesterday but the handing-over was disrupted by the students’ protest.

    President of the Student Union Government Anyanbu Johnson said: “The principal will retire today and the government appointed Mrs. Osazuwa, who is the Principal of School of Midwifery as our principal.

    “Our grievance is that she does not have the criteria to be our principal.

    “The Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria stipulates that the principal of a nursing school must be a nursing tutor and not a midwifery tutor.

    “We are saying no to the appointment of a midwife. She was the principal of School of Midwifery and the school has not been accredited in the past three years. There are only two students in that school.

    “Our school was also not accredited. We want to speak with the government on this matter.

    “We have qualified lecturers in our school that the government should appoint and not from midwifery that is a specialty under nursing.”

    Another student, Osadolor Marris, said they wanted the government to reverse its decision and work towards the school’s accreditation.

    “We do not have tutors. The nursing council said our hostel must be ready before our school would be accredited,” she said.

    Commissioner for Health Aihanuwa Heregie could not be reached for comments.

    Sources said Mrs. Osazuwa was appointed in an acting capacity, pending when a substantive principal would be named.

  • Assessment: Absentee teachers to face sanction, says Oshiomhole

    Assessment: Absentee teachers to face sanction, says Oshiomhole

    Teachers in Public Primary and Secondary Schools in Edo State who failed to show up for the Assessment exercise organized by the state government may have their names deleted from the state’s payroll, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has said.

    Speaking, Wednesday, while receiving the report of the exercise from the Teachers’ Assessment Committee led by Prof Dennis Agbonlahor, former Vice Chancellor, Ambrose Alli University, Oshiomhole said “I can readily tell you is that no teacher will remain in the pay roll of Edo State Government if we have not assessed him and convinced that he is indeed a fit and proper person to be entrusted with the classroom or the particular subject which our pupils are asked to learn.”

    He said: “this for us is not politics; it is to stress the essence of governance and prepare our kids for the future for the inevitable role they have to play.

    “Flipping through the report it is clear that you did a thorough job, painstakingly analyzing all the issues like elder statesmen and good educationists in spite of the harassment and subtle threat and you remained focused on the assignment and in the end, you have come out with a report that, I believe, will help us to have greater insight into the challenge of managing an efficient and reliable primary and secondary education.

    “Even more importantly, you have ideas of what we have to do with the outcome and you gave a set of options. I believe the innocent children whose future is an issue and their parents and guardians, their spirit, their wishes to prepare their children for the future, our God will reward you for helping to advise on how best we can help to protect their future”, he said.

    Oshiomhole said “I want to assure you that having generously obliged your time, and courageously carried out this assignment, we will have the political will to deal with all the issues. We are in politics to drive change. I do not think it is enough for someone to say that was how I met it. I want to be remembered for a guy who took the difficult decision and at the end paid the price.

    “I like to assure you that once we have started, there is no stopping and no one is going to block us till we get to that point where we are convinced that as government we have done enough to secure the future of the Edo children.

    “I will invite you back when we have formed an opinion on what we will do next.”

    Earlier, Chairman of the 7-member Assessment Committee, Professor Dennis Agbonlahor said the committee carried out the task and made all the necessary recommendations to ensure that the workforce of teachers in Edo State are properly trained and retrained.

    “Those who failed to participate should be made to do so at the next available opportunity. It is in their interest to do so. We thank the government for the opportunity given to us to serve in this capacity,” he said.

    Other members of the committee are Prof. Abigail Imogie, Prof Ikponwonse Ogie, Prof Noah Musa, Prof Sunny Omobude-Idiado, Prof Lilian Salami and Prof Austin Osunde.

     

  • WAEC trains principals, teachers

    No fewer than 350 teachers and principals in Lagos were among the first batch of those being trained by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).

    With this large figure, experts say the nation may soon witness a significant improvement in the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE).

    The three-day capacity building, which kicked off at the Events Centre, Ikeja on Monday last week, is aimed at enhancing the skills of secondary school teachers, who are expected to impact their students, Head, WAEC National Office, Mr Charles Eguridu, said.

    “The council has deemed it necessary to make this training programme available to all teachers in the federation, in response to the perceived dwindling educational standard in the country and as part of its corporate social responsibility. The council believes that a better informed and equipped teaching force would greatly improve the quality of teaching and learning which will have positive impact on the educational development of the nation,” Eguridu added.

    On the objective of the training, Eguridu said the examination body was worried each time it announced results and there was a drop in statistics.

    “So, we asked ourselves what the problem was and what could be done,” Eguridu further explained.

    He continued: “What do we do if the succeeding generation after us will come and not be able to carry the responsibility of moving the nation forward in terms of education? We did a research and discovered that there is a general decline in the quality of teaching and learning in schools; so we decided that teachers should be trained.”

    He reminded teachers of their role as change agents, admonishing them to be attentive. He warned that should they be lacking the right skills and competences to teach, the children will not be well equipped to write exams.

    The state Commissioner for Education Mrs Olayinka Oladunjoye, underscored career development, which the trainees can apply in situations, such as decision making, creative thinking and human resource management.

    She said the importance of the programme could not be over emphasised, noting that well- trained teachers are the catalysts for breeding future leaders who are academically sound and are role models with an enterprise spirit needed for a sustainable and competitive national economy.

    Mrs Oladunjoye, who represented Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, at the event, also said: “The training is necessary because it will make us have sound teachers who can be role.”

    The Chairman, Committee on Education, Science and Technology, Lagos State House Abdul-Wahab Alawiye-King hopes the collaboration would achieve its aims.

    Alawiye-King implored the teachers to continue to give back to the children.

    “We are a part of this programme. It is a new way of teaching and learning. Sharpening the skills of the teachers in order to bring positive results for the teachers at the end of the day,” he said.

     

  • Students against teachers’ strike

    T he Colleges of Education Academic Staff Union (COEASU) has begun an indefinite strike over the Federal Government’s alleged failure to meet its demands.

    But students are not happy, describing the action as a setback for their studies.

    The strike is ill-timed, Kofoworola Olaniyi, a final year student of English at the Adeyemi College of Education in Ondo, said, adding that the strike may further erode education standard in the country.

    Students pleaded with the government and their lecturers to reach a compromise and end the strike immediately. “We can’t afford to stay at home when we have just two months left to finish our courses,” a final year student lamented.

    The union, in a letter signed by its General Secretary Mr Nuhu Ogirima, to the supervising Minister of Education Nyesom Wike, lamented that government’s failure to address issue its raised in its demand. The union complained of decay of infrastructure, poor funding, non-implementation of the 2010 agreement it reached with the government.

    The union’s National President, Asagha Nkoro, accused the government of using the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to impose the Integrated Payroll and Personnel Information System (IPPIS) on colleges without considering the earlier agreement by both parties.

    COEASU also complained of discrimination against lecturers in colleges of education, which includes refusal to provide allowances their counterparts are paid.

    The Students’Union leader of Adeyemi College of Education, Alade Oyindamola, said the union was optimistic that the government and striking lecturers would come up with a way forward. The damage the strike would cost the nation, he said, cannot be quantified.

    A lecturer, who pleaded anonymity, said the disagreement would soon be settled by both parties.

    Tina Imorhoa, a 200-Level student of the College of Education in Ikere-Ekiti, urged the government to resolve its disagreement with the lecturers as quickly as possible.

     

     

  • Training for 400 teachers

    THE Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ESUBEB) in conjunction with the Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) is to train over 400 public primary school teachers in the state.

    The ESUBEB Chairman, Nneka Onuorah made this known while opening the Teachers Professional Development (TPD) Training for school support officers, head teachers and class teachers in public primary schools in Enugu State.

    She said the TPD training would help make the teachers better and improve the head teachers’ leadership and management skills.

    The ESSPIN team leader, Dr Simeon Ogbonna said apart from teachers, the training is also for school support officers and the members of the school’s host community.

    He said a school’s host community plays a vital role to enhance teaching and learning. He urged the public to eschew the notion that schools are owned by the government and, therefore, should be the exclusive business of the government.

  • Shettima puts a song in teachers’ mouths

    Shettima puts a song in teachers’ mouths

    I remember the popular and inspiring song which goes thus: “I can see everything turning around, turning around, turning around for my good”.

    I heard the voices re-echoing the song over and over again near my abode in Maiduguri. What is amiss? This song is common amongst the Christian communities, but from where it was echoing this time, from my neighbour, a Muslim family friend’s house, it suggests something really fantastic was happening. I stood by my window, adjusted the curtain to see what was amiss. I could see Hajia Binta Babagana, the wife of my neighbour and some other women in assorted attires.

    As the song was rendered, I observed next a lady serving in cups what I later discovered was Fanta drink and biscuits. Unbeknown to me, my wife, a good friend of Hajia Binta was observing the happenings at another point in our flat.

    Hours later, my wife was curious to see her friend Hajia Binta to find out the promptings of the joyous mood. I accompanied her to at least say hello to Mallam Abba Sadiq Babagana, my neighbour who l have not seen for the past fortnight. Though I was with my neighbour in the sitting room chatting but l was very attentive, anxious to know the discussion between my wife and Hajia Binta.

    Hajia Binta’s voice was clear. She was unambiguous as she told my wife the reason for the happy mood. She said they were happy because some of their teacher colleagues who they were bidding farewell were going on retirement and were showered with goodies by the Shettima administration. Apart from unhindered process of retirement, prompt payment of gratuity, the enhanced pension sum was indeed a good parting gift to Binta’s colleagues. Hajia Binta couldn’t help saying “this our governor mai kirki ne” meaning this our governor is a great or good man.

    Indeed, from primary to tertiary institutions in the state “everything is turning, turning around for good”, for the teachers, the pupils, the students and the parents. For example, Shettima’s administration inherited a prolonged strike of the lecturers of the state polytechnic (Ramat Polytechnic) in the state capital for non-implementation of Harmonised Tertiary Institutions Salary Structure (HATISS) for polytechnics from his predecessor.

    On assumption of power, he immediately implemented this and put the sleeping dog to rest. Similarly, when the latest salary structure tagged “Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS) for Polytechnics and Colleges of Education” came on board; Kashim’s administration in no time implemented the same.

    According to the spokesman of the Kashim College of Education in Maiduguri, “Governor Shettima simply called the management of the two institutions in the state to advise him on implementation, adding “we did and he concurred” directing the same to be implemented fully for all categories of staff (both academic and non-academic). The spokesman however, added that the only snag in the exercise is regards to the allowances of the academic staff but added that the governor promised to address this.

    With regards to the primary school teachers, the recommended minimum wage for workers nationwide has been negotiated since and implemented by 20 of the 27 local government councils in the state. The delay in the seven outstanding local government councils is as a result of logistics. The governor has, however, directed the affected councils to expedite action and fall in line in implementation.

    Unnecessary delay in the payment of teachers’ salaries, allowances and enhanced pension and gratuity is gradually becoming history as payments are effected now as and when due.

    An innovation from Shettima’s administration with regards to teachers’ welfare is the introduction of houses for teachers. To this effect, the state government has built an estate in Maiduguri named “Shettima Ali Monguno Teachers Village”. The village consists of various categories of modern houses built solely for teachers’ occupation. Some teachers in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council and the neighbouring Jere Local Government Council are expected to be the beneficiaries. It is expected that this gesture of the government would in the long run be replicated in some of the local government areas in the state.

    Neither are students forgotten in the transformation education agenda of the state government.

    On assumption of office, Governor Shettima raised the monthly feeding sum of students in tertiary institutions from N20 million to a N100 million and appointed a committee to enforce quality food for the students in addition to appointing a separate committee made up of well-vast educationists to ensure acceptable standard of teaching in the schools.

    While free textbooks, uniforms are being provided for students, infrastructure in schools are updated, parents in Maiduguri and the neighbouring Jere Local Government Councils are now relieved of the burden of daily transport fare for day students and pupils in public schools as government has provided buses to daily convey their wards to and from school. Apart from the goodies to teachers in the state, Governor Shettima has given the indication that all the teachers who had earlier retired and are good will be recalled back to the classroom to assist government in its educational transformation agenda.

    Governor Shettima, a product of public school from primary to university, a banker and a teacher, made it clear that in spite of his busy schedule as a governor, he would make time to teach in one of the schools. He charged his commissioners to embrace same as this is one of the ways to make education a worthy venture.

    In summary, it is safe to say teachers’ reward is on earth at least in Borno and not necessarily in heaven.

     

    Izekor writes from Maiduguri

     

  • Kogi to train teachers

    No fewer than 630 teachers are to be trained in content language integrated learning approach in Kogi State.

    The training is sequel to the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) by the Kogi State Government and the British Council at the state government House in Lokoja.

    The government also directed some higher institution teachers to serve as observers as part of the training.

    At the signing, the State Governor, Capt. Idris Wada, said the need to train teachers in content language development followed the inability of most teachers to comprehend the use of English language.

    Wada, who was represented by the Secretary to the state government, Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, said the training would place emphasis on content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge.

    He added that it had becomes difficult to impact knowledge when a teacher would not comprehend the use of the right words in teaching.

    Amir Ramzan, Deputy Director British Council, commended the state’s commitment to improving teachers – a step he said would greatly improve the quality of teaching and learning.

    Earlier, Dayo Akande, Special Adviser on Strategic Planning, said the training of teachers in the state is a reaffirmation of the administration’s stand on education.

     

     

    Other stakeholders who spoke at the signing agreement included, the Representative of the Commissioner of Education, the Technical Adviser to the Kogi State Governor, and Chairman of Teaching Service Commission and the Representative of State Universal Basic Education Board, described education, as the key solution to the nations problem, praised Capt. Idris Wada, for his emphasis in improving the quality of teachers in the State.