Teach For Nigeria trains, inducts 173 cohort of change agents

To provide qualitative education to disadvantaged children in various communities of the country, Teach For Nigeria (TFN), a non-profit organisation, has trained and inducted the second cohort of trainees into its fellowship programme.

The 173 fellows dubbed ‘change makers,” underwent a four-week intensive training programme at the Greensprings School, Lekki, Lagos. They will be dispersed to public schools across three states in Nigeria, to help remodel the teaching profession and also tutor pupils for 21st century learning.

The TFN fellowship programme is a two-year full-time paid commitment that is designed to build a movement of leaders who will work towards eliminating educational inequity by teaching in underserved schools in low-income communities across Nigeria.

Chairman, TFN, Gbenga Oyebode, at the induction ceremony said the 2018 summer training programme was designed to deepen prospective Fellows’ understanding of the numerous issues confronting the nation’s educational system, while exposing them to a wide breadth of subjects and pedagogy knowledge.He said TFN is committed to improving the quality of education for Nigeria’s most marginalised children, by training young people and posting them to underserved schools.

The summer training programme, he said would no doubt prepare them for the challenge of leading their students towards achieving ambitious academic and non-academic goals.The fellows, he added also had ample opportunity to put theory into practice at summer school as each of them independently planned and taught one 40-minute lesson per day for two weeks under experts’ supervision.

He expressed optimism that “If in 20 years, a critical mass of Teach For Nigeria Alumni were holding key positions in both the public and private sectors of our national life, our education system and in deed our nation, would be much better than what it is today.” After the ceremony the fellows were carefully posted to selected schools in Lagos, Ogun and Kaduna States.

Oyebode urged the new fellows to uphold their commitment to the fellowship, assuring that the board remains committed to the sustainability of the TFN programme.While commending the management of Greensprings School, Lagos, Sterling Bank and FBN Quest Merchant Bank for their involvement in the project, Chief Executive Officer, TFN Folawe Omikunle, charged the fellows to help transform the life trajectory of the pupils in the communities where they serve. DFID Education Adviser & Teach First UK Alumni, Esohe Eigbike, encouraged the fellows to be steadfast role models to pupils under their influence.