By Gbenga Sodeinde in Ado Ekiti
Ekiti State Government has tasked the Head Teachers of the SUBEB Model and Pilot Schools to always demonstrate the habit of making their schools role models for other public primary schools in the State.
The Executive Chairman of Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof. Akinwumi said this at a meeting with the Head Teachers in Ado Ekiti as he charged them to be good administrators of their respective schools and strive harder for positive transformation of their schools.
Prof. Akinwumi who also called for effective performance among Head Teachers of Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE) said the schools are the three most important public primary schools and the management must ensure holistic developmental needs of children of those schools from early childhood to enhance their overall development.
The SUBEB Boss reiterated the need for the Head Teachers to justify the huge financial resources by the State government to the Universal Basic Education programmes, noting that the state government has zero tolerance for non-productivity among the teachers.
“You are to compliment government’s efforts which includes, regular payment of salary & promotions, car and housing loans, etc and justify these unprecedented commitment to teachers’ welfare by Governor Abayomi Oyebanji’s administration by being alive to your responsibilities”, he said.
He also harped on the importance of effective teaching/learning process to ensure that every child is able to read and write properly, adding that all essential steps of teaching methodologies, must be followed, especially in teaching of English and Mathematics subjects.
Akinwumi urged the teachers to be proud of their profession and work harder to attract pupils to their schools through aggressive but positive enrollment drives by engaging the pupils in extracurricular activities such as: Quiz and Debate, Sports, Folktales, etc. stressing that the minimum target for any model or pilot school in the state is 500 pupils.
The Chairman however commended some hard working Head Teachers who through their high and unequal level of performance have brought about positive transformations to their schools.
Earlier, the Board Commissioner for Human Resource Management, Dr. Olufunke Fajobi called for proactive efforts of the Head Teachers through their demonstrations of quality administration in order to improve the standards of their schools in particular and the state basic education programmes in general.
Also present at the meeting are the Board Permanent Secretary, Mr Afolabi Adebiyi and other top management staff.
In a similar development, the Ekiti SUBEB Executive Chairman, Prof. Femi Akinwumi has warned Head Teachers of public primary schools in the state against various acts of indiscipline that have pervaded their schools.
Prof. Akinwumi enumerated some of these unprofessional conducts to include truancy, absenteeism, lack of proper record keeping, refusal to prepare lesson notes and illegal collection of fees among others.
The Chairman who gave the warning during a meeting with the Executive members of the state chapter of Association of Primary School Head Teachers of Nigeria (AOPSHON) expressed discomfort for the lack of control by the Association over the conduct of primary school teachers in the state.
He tasked the AOPSHON Executives to carry out their regulatory roles as appropriate in order to sanitize the schools of behaviors that can rubbish the good standard of basic education in the state.
Prof. Akinwumi who frowned at illegal collection of fees by some Head Teachers under the guise of “end of the year activities fees”, said that the board has its facts and figures of all unofficial activities in their schools and warned against behaviors inimical to the free and compulsory education policy of the State to avoid the wrath of government.
He urged the AOPSHON leadership to monitor the activities of the Parents Teachers Association(PTA) and ensure the presence of at least one government official at their meetings, seek for government’s approval before holding any meeting and forward the agenda for such meetings to the LGEA for approval, adding that any fee above N5,000 by PTA becomes illegal.
Responding, the AOPSHON Chairman, Mr Moses Ajiborode gave political reasons, inadequate grants and parents influence as factors affecting the enforcement of discipline in most schools, appealing that if government would take bold steps at stepping down the causes of indiscipline, the association will not hesitate to enforce moral, social and academic disciplinary actions among its members across the state