Provost harps on importance of teachers in nation building
Esther Taiwo
Management and staff of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education (AOCOED) Otto Ijanikin, Lagos, on Thursday joined their counterparts’ across the world to mark the International Teachers Day with the theme ‘Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers’.
Addressing participants at the Oluremi Tinubu Hall of the College, Provost Dr (Mrs) Aina Ladele said the place of teaching in nation building is a dominant paradigm to the extent that teaching serves as the barometer by which the development of a nation is being measured.
Aina noted emphasised that despite inadequate funding of education, reduced autonomy of educational institutions, general low wages among others, teachers remain committed to duties, improvising instricutional materials tom drive effective teaching service delivery.
“Teachers, the world over, wear the toga of nation builders as doctors, lawyers, engineers and other professionals hold their statuses to the clemency of teachers. Therefore it is expedient that teachers are adequately empowered , sufficiently motivated and stronglu supported within a resourced , efficient and well-defined system”, she said.
The Provost also advocated for security of employment for teachers as well as career development opportunities and good conditions of learning as frontline workers without whom quality learning re,mains a paper tiger.
In her own submission, Chairman Organising Committee, Dr (Mrs) Foluke Omosehin said the importance of teachers in any society cannot be overemphasised and the more they are empowered, the more they will be able to deliver.
He said in order to enhance teaching, teaching should be professionalised as she urged all teachers to register with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) saying this is because a lot of teachers in the classrooms are not professionally qualified.
She also urged her counterparts in the teaching profession to ensure that they are ICT compliant in order to be ahead of the students they impact knowledge on.
One of the participants, Mr Tope Ogunyemi, a part-time teacher in the College stressed the need to also empower students alongside their teachers so as to have a free choice of their desirable area of knowledge.
“Students cognitive integrity should be preserved because they too can think and be creative, a teacher should not assume he knows it all but should respect the opinion of his students as well”, he said.
Ogunyemi also urged the federal government to involve teachers in policy formulation and should allow teachers to do their jobs without fear of favour while also calling for reduction on workload for teachers to enable them prepare adequately for the task ahead of them.
