Uniabuja to re-train primary sch. Teachers on comm. skills, mourns former DVC

The management of the University of Abuja said it has concluded arrangements to re-train primary school teachers across the Federal Capital Territory and some states of Federation, in a move aimed at improving the quality of lesson delivery in their schools.

A press release which was signed by the varsity’s deputy registrar ,information, Mala Garba Waziri and made available to newsmen in Abuja ,over the weekend quoted the Vice – Chancellor of the University, Professor Michael Umale Adikwu as having made the above disclosure

while exchanging views with the Chairman of the Abuja Municipal Area Council, AMAC, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu Candido in Abuja

According to the release, the VC also maintained that a curriculum on the communication skills had already been developed by the Faculty of Education of the University and was just awaiting delivery to beneficiaries.

Prof. Adikwu also added that studies by the University on the performance of primary school teachers in the Federal Capital and some other states in the federation had shown that most of them did not lack knowledge of teaching subjects but how to impart such knowledge to the pupils thus encouraging the falling standard of education.

The Vice-chancellor further maintained that the communication skills curriculum which was developed in conjunction with a German scholar, Klaus Sterstorfer, a Professor of English, is set for pilot application in AMAC and Bwari Area Councils in the FCT which had indicated interest in the scheme adding that the Centre for Distance Learning and Continuing Education,

and the Institute of Education of the University had started reaching out to some states of the federation for their participation in the scheme.

He said’’ said that the teacher’s communication skills project was part of the University’s own contribution to the development of the immediate community of the institution and urged AMAC to seize the opportunity provided by the scheme to empower her teachers for effective service delivery in the schools’’.

While responding, the Abuja Municipal Area Council Chairman, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu Candido, praised the University’s scheme as exemplary and assured that the Council will support the proposal for the benefit of teachers and the education system .

Candido charged staff of the council to leverage on the opportunities provided by the numerous educational programmes of the University of Abuja to fortify themselves against the modern challenges posed by the fast developing world driven by professionalism and specialized competencies.

Meanwhile the University has announced the death of her former deputy vice chancellor, Professor Joseph Nwafor Nwabueze.

An announcement by the university, said Nwabueze, a professor of Inorganic Chemistry, died last month after a brief illness

Augustine Okezie, Abuja