rOsy247: I J̶̲̥̅̊u̶̲̥̅̊ƨ̣̣̣̇̇̇̇τ̣̣̥ stumbled on this. Proposed education law favours teachers in Rivers
Thursday, 08 August 2013 00:00 By Rotimi Lawrence Oyekanmi Features - Education

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• 13, 201 new teachers begin induction course
RIVERS will soon become the best state in the entire country to practice the teaching profession, going by the snippets of information about a proposed Law, now in the works at the state’s parliament.
In what could be described as the best deal ever to be offered teachers in any state, the new “Rivers State Education Law 2013” stipulated that accommodation should be provided for teachers, especially those posted to the rural areas in the state. Not only that, those who teach in rural villages would also be paid special allowances as additional compensation.
The law makes regular payment of salaries and promotion of teachers sacrosanct, just as it asks the state government to provide the teachers with access to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), to enable them acquire proficiency.
Mr. Augustine Paul Ngo, who chairs the Rivers State House Committee on Education, broke the good news on Tuesday in Port Harcourt, during the flag off of the induction course organized by the State’s Ministry of Education, for the newly employed 13, 201 teachers. Expectedly, the teachers reacted with a thunderous applause.
The induction course was the final in the series of activities lined up for the new teachers, who received their appointment letters last month. With the massive recruitment, which would cost the state N1billion as monthly salaries, the pupil/teacher ratio is expected to be 23:1.
Profound joy understandably enveloped the air at the venue of the ceremony, where the excited teachers, in their hundreds, openly praised Governor Rotimi Amaechi for “restoring dignity” to the teaching profession.
The course would expose the teachers to some teaching rudiments, such as how to make complicated abstracts in a subject meaningful to the pupils and how to ensure effective teaching.
Major stakeholders, including the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC), have praised Rivers state for taking far-reaching actions aimed at improving its education sector. Its recent recruitment has also been described as unprecedented, when compared to past federal efforts in the primary and secondary sub sectors. The first attempt by the Military administration to introduce Universal Primary Education (UPE) in 1973 did not include the plan to accommodate the required number of teachers, leading to emergency measures that culminated in the establishment of the National Teachers Institute (NTI) in 1976.
It has also been revealed that the second federal effort, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) scheme, introduced in 1999, also did not include an elaborate plan to hire the required number of teachers.
In a somewhat sober reflection, a former Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt, Prof Nimi Briggs, told the audience that what Amaechi and the Rivers State Commissioner for Education, Dame Alice Lawrence Nemi did for the people of Rivers state, could only be compared to what the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo did for the former Western Region people, when he introduced free primary education at that time. “That is why the western region, till today, remains the most developed in this country,” he affirmed. “No matter what you want to look at, check all the indices, the odds still favour the western region.”
He continued: “Amaechi came, looked around, and decided to give education priority. And he appointed this young, beautiful girl (Lawrence-Nemi) as his Commissioner for Education. If you look at her, she is small in stature, yet, her vision is big. We shall forever remember you.”
But he was quick to note that managing 13, 000 teachers would be challenging. He urged the state government to put proper structures in place to ensure that the current project does not fail.
To the new teachers, he counseled: “Don’t regard this new opportunity as just a job. You must strive to be role models. Look, I have never forgotten my primary school teacher. In the same vein, do things that would make a lasting good impression on the little children put in your care.”
However, Ambassador Joe Keshi, who heads the BRACED Commission, advised the teachers not to resort to strikes to register their displeasure about any government policy they may not like. “Strikes (in the education sector) have ruined us,” he declared, just as he implored that state’s chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) not to introduce the strike mentally to the new teachers.
The chairman of the state’s Quality Assurance Agency, Prof Otonti Nduka, who started teaching in 1948, told the teachers to raise a new generation. His words: “We look forward to have you raise a new generation. Welcome to the noble profession.”
The Secretary to the state government, Mr. George Feyii, who represented Amaechi at the event, told the teachers: “Seize this moment and do your work well. Not doing so will amount to a disservice.”
The Permanent Secretary of the state’s Ministry of Education, Dr Richard Ofuru, while commending the transparency that accompanied the recruitment process, said the Rivers state government had proved that it was possible for a poor man’s child to get a job without having to press any button.
On how the Ministry of Education intends to supervise and manage the teachers, Lawrence Nemi told The Guardian in an exclusive interview: “That is why we have the Quality Assurance Agency, which the governor set up and the plan is that, by September they (agency members) should be in all the schools in the state, to ensure that the teachers have all been deployed and that they are teaching the right subjects.
“It is not just something they would work on from Port Harcourt. We have zonal offices in all the Local Government areas, because they know the system and all that has been put in place. It would not be business as usual, where they won’t know whether a teacher has been to school or not. They are going through the grassroots and will not just sit in the office. They would have to get feedback from the foot soldiers, on what is happening in the local authority. They will have people on ground to visit these schools – people who are already trained as quality assurance agency staff – they would know what an inspectorate is and what monitoring is, then, they would give the head office the feedback.”
On worries expressed in certain quarters about what could happen to the state’s education sector when Amaechi leaves office, the Commissioner said: “The bill by the state assembly is designed to cover education sector operations, including the rules and regulation. So, anybody can’t just turn around and say this is what I want to do. It would be difficult because there would be a clause. We are going to run a 10-year education Master Plan, which will contain the policies, procedures and things you need to do. So, it would be very difficult for anybody to just come and say he wants to abandon this or that. We are going to get more people and train them because this is not a joke for anybody to just come in and give excuses.”
Asked if the state was already reaping benefits from its investment in education, Lawrence Nemi stated that while some benefits would take a long time to manifest, some were already being felt.
Her words: “In the model primary school, we did an assessment through a private consultant, to check on the achievement and other things every now and then, to see how our students have improved. The governor may not even be on seat to receive glory from this, but we have seen a lot of remarkable improvement.
“For instance, our students from public schools, went to represent Nigeria in the Presidential debate. Our children have also been to the United Nations (UN) to represent Nigeria and they have won a lot of awards. We are beginning to reap some benefits. We may not reap all the benefits, but at least, we are reaping some.
“On infrastructure, when you are starting, infrastructure alone could take sometime to be put in place. Then, you are talking about teachers, uniforms, discipline and others. It takes a lot and any state government that wants to really get education right has to start early, from the first day you are sworn in as the governor. There is so much work to do and with the decay in the system, including the fact that, while you are putting the teachers in the schools, you are also taking steps to constantly train them. It’s a very long journey.
“When you look at the tertiary institutions; those who have passed their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE); and then you send them out on scholarship, like what the governor is doing by giving them scholarships to universities, it is clear that we are reaping results. And quite a number of those sent abroad on scholarship are coming back. In fact, we are having 35 medical doctors that would join the Ministry of Health, including two First Class graduates, fully sponsored by the state government. We also have some engineers working in the ministry. So, already, we are beginning to reap. We may not reap all, but at least we are reaping some.” this was that poem he read that day of induction. remember its still a bill yet to be passed into law |
Jobs/Vacancies › Re: Rivers State Teachers Recruitment 2012 by ikem50: 10:52am On Sep 16, 2013
