The Country Director of ActionAid Nigeria , Ene Obi has expressed concern that the country has failed to make long-term investments for continuous professional teachers development opportunities that will ensure teachers are well equipped to facilitate various teaching skills.
Ene stated this in Abuja during RoundTable meeting on Sustainable Teaching profession with theme: “Repositioning the Teaching Profession for greater service delivery in the era of COVID-19” organized by the ActionAid Nigeria .
She lamented that the teaching structure and reputation in the Nigerian eductional system is bedeviled with a lot of problems that faces the teaching industry as a profession.
She said teachers are very key in ensuring the safe return of learners to school adding that the level of preparedness of the teachers who are also vulnerable to the risk of COVID 19 needs to be given due consideration in other to ensure the delivery of quality and inclusive education for all.
She said ActionAid International has been working with the umbrella body of the Teachers Union known as Education International at the International level and has conducted series of research that has shown the need for Nigerian Government to urgently focus on raising new revenues to meet SDG4 as well as address issues around emergencies in the education sector.
She explained ActionAid Nigeria through the Breaking Barriers project is organizing a one day meeting with the leadership of theNigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) made up of the National Executive Committee members, Zonal leaders, All Conference of Principals (ANCOPS) and Association of Head of Schools in Nigeria (AOPSHON).
Other participants were drawn from the Federal Ministry of Education (FME), National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN),Civil Society Action Coalition on Education For All (CSCAEFA), Joint National Association of Persons With Disability (JONAPWD) and the media will be mobilized for the one day meeting.
Also, the National President of the Nigeria Union of Teachers , Nasir Idris said they appreciate the tenacity and deduction with which the leadership and officers of ActionAid have continued to engage and pursue issues relations to education and implementation of education policies in the country.
He said while all states in the federation has strived to reopen schools at the basic and Secondary levels for academic activities.
“We are constrained to observe that there are gaps in the implementation of these protocols and guidelines.
“We must therefore work to ensure that the right response strategies and measures are put in place to safeguard the health and safety of the learners, the teachers other education support staff and the school community, ”he said.
