By Jacinta Nwachukwu
A non-governmental organisation, Plan International Nigeria, has engaged some stakeholders in the education sector to develop a framework for teachers’ orientation and development across states to enhance classroom learning.
Speaking with newsmen at a two-day Roundtable Advocacy Meeting on new teachers’ development/orientation in Abuja, the stakeholders underscored the need to strengthen teacher development systems in crisis-affected communities of Adamawa and Sokoto States.
According to the stakeholders, teachers remain central to improving learning outcomes and supporting the children affected by insecurity, displacement and poverty.
They stressed the need for structured orientation and mentoring support for newly-recruited teachers to improve classroom delivery and motivation.
The Head of Programmes, Plan International Nigeria, Mr Laban Onisimus, said that the programme was designed to address the need for proper teacher development in the country.
Onisimus noted that lots of resources had gone into the education sector but not much was being done regarding the development of teachers.
The essence of the meeting, he said, was to develop a framework that would help to strengthen issues related to orientation and training of new teachers in the country.
He also noted that the engagement was targeted at strengthening stakeholder commitment toward institutionalising teacher orientation programmes in Adamawa and Sokoto States.
“We are partnering with relevant government agencies like UBEC, TRCN and most importantly, Nigeria Union of Teachers.
“This project has actually been implemented in two states – Sokoto and Adamawa, and it is actually based on our findings as it relates to teacher development in the locations,” he said.
Also speaking, Mr Abdulganiyu Abubakar, the Founder/Chief Executive Officer, Save the Child Initiative, Nigeria, said the programme was apt, adding that it would change the perception and the orientation of teachers.
Abubakar said that it sought to empower teachers and provide an enabling environment for them to thrive in the profession.
He said that the workshop had become necessary, considering the fact that most states did not have any opportunity for teachers who were newly appointed to be on-boarded.
“Teachers are to be taught what they are expected to do, and we have discovered that in the education sector in most of our states, teachers were not given that opportunity.
“In this programme, we have the opportunity to interact with state actors so as to really understand what is expected of teachers.
“And we are fully prepared to ensure that we have a well-structured programme that will provide orientation for new and rooted teachers in Adamawa and Sokoto States,” he added.
He further said that the programme would provide teachers an ample opportunity to understand what was expected of them and also help them to provide quality knowledge on the children, from both basic and secondary education.
Similarly, Jiddere Musa, the National Chairperson, Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), Nigeria, stressed the need for teachers to be inducted into the job, like other professionals do.
“When you graduate, you are expected to understand the demands of going into the practical workspace. Unfortunately, teachers are employed and they are not given that little orientation to understand what they are going to do,” she said.
According to Musa, teachers’ orientation is very crucial to enable them acquire the necessary skills required for the profession.
“This is because the methods that the lecturers use in teaching students are mostly lecture methods as opposed to student-centred methods needed for basic education.
“You can’t use lecture method for children because it’s going to be teacher-centred. We need to use child-centred methods,” she added.
The chairperson also said that the group had been able to train teachers on well-being at the state level where it operates so that they would be comfortable and happy to work.
“We’ve been able to take them through strategies that can help them reduce stress and be able to also support the children that they are teaching.
“We’ve always concentrated on children. But we felt that this time around, we need to talk about teachers, because the teacher is the centre of it all in the teaching profession,” she said.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in Sokoto State, Prof. Ahmad Ala, said that the workshop aimed to have a framework for teachers’ orientation and development.
“There is a need for teachers to have some kind of orientation, to prepare them to align their skills and also, to give them the opportunity to interact with others so as to guide them to understand what happens in the classroom.
“These include: how to go about it, how to manage time, and the behaviours of the children, ensuring that they enjoy staying in school,” he said.
On out-of-school children, the commissioner said that the state, in collaboration with Plan International Nigeria and UNICEF, had deployed teachers to special learning centres where they teach the children English, literacy, Arithmetic and some basic skills, with trade.
“So that by the time they finish, they should be able to engage in some other activities, like knitting, tailoring, leather work and any kind of economic activity,” he added.
Ala said that the state recently recruited 2,000 teachers, hence the need to have a framework on how to train them.
He said that the framework would enable the new teachers to carry out their jobs effectively anytime they were posted to various schools.
On his part, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Adamawa, Mohammed Faisal, commended the organisers of the programme, saying that it had had an impact on the education sector, especially in the state.
Faisal said that recently, the state government gave new graduates with educational backgrounds a chance to apply for the teaching profession to ensure that the profession was being managed very well.(NAN)(www.nannews.ng)
Edited by ‘Wale Sadeeq
