THE State government says it will employ and empower more teachers as part of measures to complement its effort in the education management.
The State Deputy Governor Dr Nkem Okeke, disclosed this when he received members of the Reading Association of Nigeria RAN, led by its Board of Trustee’s Chairman, Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu at the Government House Awka.
The Reading Association of Nigeria which is an umbrella body of leading readers has been partnering the State Ministry of Education to build the capacity of teachers under the project called Leap.
Receiving the team, the Deputy Governor noted that the State government is presently seeking more ways of improving the lot of teachers, especially those in the rural areas, saying that education remains the greatest asset any Nation can bequeath to its citizens.
Dr Okeke who stressed that being a teacher requires great patience noted that the Nation needs to start spending the stipulated twenty-six percent of its Gross Domestic Product on education, to make Nigerian students and pupils more competitive, globally.
In her remark, the State Commissioner for Education Professor Kate Omenugha revealed that the Ministry’s partnership with the Association has generated enormous benefits as its training has impacted skills on the teachers.
Professor Omenugha disclosed further that the Obiano administration has done so much to promote reading culture in the schools, including the creation of libraries, the daily twenty minutes uninterrupted silent
reading in all the schools, among others.
Contributing the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Association, Professor Chukwuemeka Onukogu, who is a former Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC in Anambra State, stressed that in teaching, portfolio assessment should be concentrated on, rather than continuous assessment.
A Guest Lecturer at the meeting, Professor Robert Tierney who described his visit to the State as a privilege, maintained that teachers all over the World are indispensable in every progressive society.