‘Only quality education will guarantee national rebirth’

Positive change in all ramifications will remain elusive if the country fails to make quality education available to its burgeoning youth population, who constitute the real change agents that the country needs.

For that change to be brought to bear, however, the most critical factor in the equation remains highly-qualified teachers, without which nothing can successfully be done along this line.

Executive Director of Greensprings Schools, Mrs. Lai Koiki, who made the assertion at the inauguration of Greensprings Montessori Centre (GMC) in Lagos, stressed that nations that desire to be great must ensure that their future leaders were fully equipped for the increasingly competitive world.
 
Conscious of the pivotal role teachers play in the lives of children aged 0 to six-year-old, as well as in their growing up years, Koiki said that no expense should be spared in training high-quality teachers as their dearth has the capacity to undermine a country’s developmental aspirations since no country can rise above the quality of its education.

“Today marks the beginning of a great experience for us in the school and the country. There is a real yearning for change and it has to start with educators, who have direct contact with students, who are the ones that will lead the future. Children need to be moulded aright to make Nigeria a better place,” Koiki said.

She continued, “GMC, in this direction is coming at the right time for it to make the right impact on the teachers. We will work assiduously to ensure that the effect of this institution spreads to different parts of the country because we owe it a duty to prepare our tomorrows leaders.

In his remarks, Parent Teacher Association (PTA) chairman of Lekki Campus of the school, Prince Olumide Olugbenle, praised the school’s management for investing in teacher-education, stressing that the impact would be worth the effort.

Insisting that education without values was no education, he charged educators to strive to imbue their pupils with great values help the vision of any nation to blossom.

Programme Director of GMC, Mr. Abraham Ogunkanmbi, said the facility, a subsidiary of Greensprings Educational Services Limited, came into being because, “Our Pre-school subscribes to, and upholds the tenets of the Montessori philosophy and method; we consistently aspire to build and sustain a world-class Montessori school.”

Ogunkanmbi, informed that the programme was currently undergoing accreditation by Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education (MACTE) based in the United States, just as the facility was “also processing our affiliation with International Montessori Council (IMC).

He said “GMC has been organising successful workshops, training programmes and short courses in the Montessori method since 2008 before metamorphosing into a full-fledged training centre at present. We are committed to excellence in the training of Montessori Early Years practitioners. We will give every Adult learner an internationally recognised Montessori teacher training experience with the award of a Diploma with which they can work in the Early Years Montessori environment both in Nigeria and overseas.”