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Retooling teaching profession for sound national development

By Ujunwa Atueyi
11 May 2017   |   3:37 am
Aloy Ejiogu has disclosed that there is a compelling need for the Federal Government and concerned stakeholders to retool and reposition the teaching profession, so as to reap the full potentials of education dividends.

Lack of policy clarity and planning leading to demotivation, disillusionment, disgruntlement and frustration have been identified as major plights facing the Nigerian teacher and generally undermining education.

As entry opens for 2017 Maltina Teacher of The Year competition

Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship Education, University of Lagos (UNILAG), Aloy Ejiogu has disclosed that there is a compelling need for the Federal Government and concerned stakeholders to retool and reposition the teaching profession, so as to reap the full potentials of education dividends.

Presenting a paper titled, “Can Any Nation Do Without Teachers,” at the flag off of the “2017 Maltina Teacher of The Year (MTOY),” competition, Ejiogu said for the country to achieve its developmental goals, teachers must assume their “incontestable place in enhancing the realisation of sound national development plan.”

He asserted that conscientious effort must be made to adequately reequip and prime teachers to be committed and development-oriented in the conduct and execution of their multifaceted task.

Citing legendary Henry Ford’s quote that “a country’s competitiveness starts not on the factory floor, or in the engineering laboratory. It starts from the classroom,” Ejiogu cautioned that the time is long over due for government and all stakeholders to rally round and lift the profession to an enviable height.

He said, “Notwithstanding the recognised sacredness and sacrosanctity of the teacher’s roles in nation building, an overwhelming body of evidence that the Nigerian teachers is treated as a pariah obviously confronts us all here and everywhere in the country. The neglect and denigration of the Nigerian teacher has become commonplace formally and informally regardless of all pretences.

“For instance, lack of policy clarity and planning leading to demotivation, disillusionment, disgruntlement and frustration have been identified as major plights facing the Nigerian teacher and generally undermining education. The presence of these challenges creates the more urgent and compelling need to retool both the Nigerian teacher and his/her instruments.

Earlier, the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Nicolaas Vervelde, restated the company’s commitment to continually recognise, celebrate and motivate teacher’s unmatched effort at human and national development.

Vervelde, represented by the Cooperate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries, Mr. Kufre Ekanem, urged interested teachers from both public and private schools to download application forms from the Maltina website: www.maltina-nigeria.com.”

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