President Jonathan tasks teachers on advocating positive change

[FMINigeria]

President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan has called on Nigerian teachers to act as agents of positive change and transformation for the nation to achieve its educational goals.

The President, who was represented at the opening ceremony of the 2013 World Teachers' Day held on Saturday October 5, 2013 in Abuja by the Vice President, Namadi Sambo charged teachers to work harder towards imparting useful knowledge, discipline and patriotism to the younger generation; saying he was making the push as Nigerian President and a teacher.

"On this important Teachers' Day, we are making a call for teachers to give their utmost in achieving our educational goals. We are calling for teachers who love the profession, not just teachers who impart knowledge to earn a living. We are calling for effective teachers who assume ownership of the classroom, invest time with students and work creatively for their success. Indeed, we are making a call for teachers both in service and out of service to act as agents of positive change and transformation for our dear nation,'' he said.

The President reassured the commitment of Government to addressing challenges in the nation's education sector. He called on all stakeholders in the sector to support teachers in building the present and future leaders of the country.

''If we must develop as a people and a country, we cannot afford to leave this important task to our teachers alone. We must reason with them, work with them and continue to support them,'' he added.

President Jonathan noted with delight the roles played by Nigerian teachers in the sustainable development of the country and thanked them for their immense contributions to medicine, science, technology, politics and economy.

He expressed his administration's determination to address shortage in teachers and improve the quality of education by reinforcing training and the retraining of teachers.

He also mentioned the recruitment of teachers and teacher professional development at all the levels of education reforms.

He announced that government has so far trained 40,000 teachers at the National Teachers' Institute (NTI), while the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND) has expanded its support by training 5,000 lecturers across higher education institutions.

According to him, the Government has approved the construction of micro-teaching laboratories in all the Federal Colleges of Education and one College of Education in each state.

In his remarks, the supervising Minister of Education, Nyesom Wike commended the leadership of NUT for their support and understanding towards the realisation of Nigeria's education goals.

He said that the Government would continue to implement policies and programmes aimed at uplifting the quality of education in the country. Adding,

the Government will abide by all agreements reached with all trade unions in the educational sector for peace to reign in the nation's institutions.

The National President of NUT, Michael Olukoya urged the three tiers of government to stop recruiting unqualified people to teach in schools across the country.

He also called for an end to the ongoing ASUU strike, urging all parties in the dispute to put Nigeria first in their consideration.

The Governor of Kwara State, Abdulfatai Ahmed who received the NUT Award for Excellence in Education at the event, expressed optimism that the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) will soon end.

Other recipients of the award were the Governor of Enugu State, Sulivan Chime and Governor of Yobe State, Ibrahim Gaidem.

Source: President Jonathan tasks teachers on advocating positive change
Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria