POVERTY aided by the harsh economy and the new media have been identified as some of the challenges undermining the effectiveness of teachers and students in the 21st-century quest for smooth education.
These were among the observations enthused on Thursday by Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta State on the occasion of 2017 World Teachers’ Day themed: ‘Teaching in Freedom, Empowering Teachers,’ in Asaba.
Addressing the teachers, who turned out in their large numbers under the aegis of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) in Asaba to mark the event, Governor Okowa disclosed that poverty and the proliferation of the new media are realities choking the inculcation of good morals in students as well as the effectiveness of teachers.
“Sometimes, the importance of inculcating good values to our students is daily undermined and challenged by the realities outside the classrooms – poverty and media, especially the internet including another harsh reality – the economy.
“At all times, we should take time to consider, in earnest, the direction our educational system should take, regardless of what resources we have or do not have, to allow us to go head to head with other countries, with our comparative strengths and weaknesses.
“This is what makes education not simply a matter of filling a bucket that was empty, but rather a matter of igniting a needful fire where none existed before.
“Indeed, if our aim is to change the world as we know it, we can only do so by setting the hearts and minds of our students on fire for knowledge; in practical terms.
“This means we cannot settle for mediocrity; we must constantly aim for the perfect score, as a matter of practice, as a matter of principle,” the governor reiterated.
Okowa observed that in his days, he was not only taught, but the right values were inculcated in him, emphasising that teachers should be empowered and given the freedom to carry out their duties.
He disclosed that to ensure quality teachers in the school system, his administration would construct Teachers’ Development Centre for the training and retraining of teachers, just as he commended the NUT for partnering with his administration in moving education forward.
He added that “the empowerment of teachers has always been our priority, more so, now that the United Nations has adopted it as the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal for Education.”
According to him, “my administration places a high premium on education which was evident on assumption of office on 29 May 2015, when we made education one of our top priority areas as encapsulated in our SMART Agenda.
“We quickly instituted a comprehensive NEEDS assessment to reposition the education sector in the state.
“The welfare of teachers, including payment of salaries, promotions, training and sundry obligations, have continued to occupy centre stage in this administration, in spite of very limited resources in the midst of current recession coupled with the huge workforce in the state.
“We have a total of over 18,000 primary school teachers with over 16, 000 teachers in our secondary school system.
“This administration, in its bid to add more impetus to education, deployed 501 graduates among DESOPADEC staff, to the school system.”
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Earlier in his welcome address, the Chairman of NUT in the state, Comrade Titus Okotie, said, the essence of the day was to enable teachers to reflect on their profession, their responsibilities, their relationship with government and to assess the gains and areas of needs to ascertain the direction of education in the country.
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