World Teachers’ Day: Adebule, Commissioner For Education Commends Teachers For Moulding The Future Of Nigerian Children

As Nigerian teachers join their counterparts all over the world to celebrate the World Teachers’ Day, the Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Adebule, says teachers have the capacity to make Nigeria a powerful and well-educated country, in spite of current challenges.

The 2016 World Teachers’ Day with the theme -‘Valuing Teachers, Improving their Status’ was described by teachers as most apt for the Nigerian where our teachers deserved to be celebrated for being the pivot of socio-economic development.

In commemoration of World Teachers’ Day, Adebule, who is also the Commissioner for Education, made the remark while speaking with newsmen today in Lagos where she further stated that teachers play vital role in nation building, as they help nurture desirable, useful and purposeful children to take up leadership positions in the country, Guardian reports.

”The children are the future and the teachers are the ones who are getting them ready for their tasks as leaders of tomorrow with wisdom, exposure and resources.

”I commend all our teachers for their steadfastness, commitment, and dedication towards moulding the future of our children.

”It is by their support that we have been able to grow and develop the education sector of the state. We indeed appreciate your efforts and support to this administration.”

She also urged the teachers to continue to put in their best and recognise that their role in ensuring the future of Nigerian children and the country was secured.Still celebrating teachers, stakeholders in the teaching profession have lamented the precarious state of Nigerian teachers in the comity of teachers globally.

Speaking with Vanguard, Nigerian teachers lamented their poor teaching conditions, stressing that teachers are not so treated with disdain globally.

”According to them, whereas the Nigerian teachers are still using blackboards and chalks for teaching in the 21st century, their counterparts in other countries are using whiteboards and markers, noting that many countries of the world have even gone beyond the use of whiteboard to interactive classroom system, coupled with teaching aids.

Overloaded classrooms:

Comparing teachers in Nigeria to their counterparts globally, they described in Nigeria working conditions as appalling, adding that the average Nigerian teachers, apart from few private schools, were working under poor conditions of service.

Many teachers, especially in public schools are compelled to work in overloaded classrooms of 80 to 100 pupils without electricity, and comfortable office chairs and tables. They argued that the manner in which the federal and state governments handled teachers makes the society to hold teachers and the teaching profession in low esteem.

“How many teachers in Nigeria are computer literate and what is the government doing to upgrade teachers’ knowledge in computer literacy,” they quarried.

Making allusion to what a typical teacher and the teaching profession were like in those days, stakeholders noted that in the good old days, teachers were highly regarded in the society as they exerted great influence and authority on the people and were subsequently ranked second in command after the traditional chiefs.

“That informed the reason many teachers in those days were given free accommodation and scholarships for further studies,” they said.
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Status of teachers:

The Provost of Michael Otedola Primary College of Education (MOCPED), Professor Olu Akeusola said:

“Improving the status of teachers is beyond money. It includes building their capacities to ensure they deliver better quality education. Today, almost half of the teachers in Nigeria have severe quality deficiencies.

Government at all levels must take steps to improve the quality of teachers through better pre-service and in-service training. Agencies concerned with registration of teachers and regulating their training should evolve more vibrant methodologies for delivering on their mandate.

Here we are looking at Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN), National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE).

Many of our teachers are sub-standard and we need to tighten quality assurance. We need to tool teachers better in a fast-evolving ICT world to enable them take full advantage of ICT to deliver the curriculum. We need to better resource our schools so that Nigerian teachers will have more clement environment with which to work.”