By Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
The Executive Chairman of the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB ) Prof.Femi Akinwumi has said that his board would continue to collaborate with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and all other education stakeholders to ensure proper development of Teachers in the basic education sector in the State.
Prof Akinwumi made this known during the flag-off of a 5 day orientation workshop under the “Teachers Internship Scheme on the Effective Performance and Implementation of the Internship Scheme in a Classroom Setting” held at the UBEC Smart School, Ijan Ekiti.
He said that the SUBEB’s partnership with UBEC has continued to yield positive results as the State Government has always lived up to its contractual obligations by continuous and prompt payment of counterpart funds to UBEC as and when due.
He stressed the commitment of Governor Oyebanji to further boost the development of the basic education sector in the State.
Prof. Akinwumi outlined the importance of periodic training and retraining for teachers stating that it is vital that teachers are equipped with the necessary training tools that can make them function optimally in their various teaching-learning activities especially in the modern ICT generation.
He stated that participants at the training were selected based on merit and performance without bias as they had earlier gone through a screening exercise which included written examination and interview to qualify for the internship scheme.
The SUBEB boss while stressing that Ekiti State would not compromise its educational sector in any way, especially at the basic level mentioned that the selection process was streamlined and properly scrutinized to ensure the best participants emerged.
“Once you fail at the primary school level, it would affect pupils in the juniour secondary school level. I can assure you that Ekiti SUBEB would not compromise when it comes to the future of our pupils” Prof. Akinwumi posited.
While stressing that the two years internship scheme was too short, the SUBEB Boss appealed to UBEC to extend the duration of the scheme or upgrade it to a permanent employment.
He revealed that the formulation of a policy was in the pipeline to ensure that the interns are retained beyond the two-year period of internship.
Prof. Akinwumi while expressing confidence in the ability of the participants and their attitude to work also charged them to maximize the opportunity presented by the program.
Reiterating the commitment of the Oyebanji led administration to improving the quality of teaching-learning outcomes in the State, the Chairman said continuous training for teachers has been made a priority.
While lauding UBEC for their continued partnership and support in ensuring that basic education is given priority the SUBEB Boss also assured them that SUBEB would ensure the success of the program in the State.
In his reaction, the representative from Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Mr Soremi lauded the Ekiti State Government for always taking advantage of interventions by UBEC to elevate the basic education status of the State.
Mr Soremi said that some of the objectives of the orientation workshop are to stimulate the interest of teachers in the application data tools for teaching/learning and also to encourage interns to access professional development opportunities.
He also appreciated the participants for their orderliness and professionalism exhibited during the examination, screening exercise and the orientation workshop.
Present at the event were, the Director Teachers Professional Development, Mrs Temitope Sola-Shittu, the Director Social Mobilization, Mr Sunday Agunbiade, Facilitator from UBEC, Mr Umoru Mutairu , the Principal and Vice Principal Smart School, Head Teacher/Assistant Head Teacher Smart School (Basic) and other staff.