The National Parent Teacher Association of Nigeria has called on government to review teachers’ curriculum for better productivity.
Chief Adeolu Ogunbanjo, the second Deputy National President of the association, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos on Friday as the country joined the rest of the world to celebrate the Teachers Day.
According to him, the world has moved ahead and for Nigeria to catch up with the trend, it must ensure an all-round teacher development starting with review of teachers’ curriculum.
He said that there was no way a country would rise above the standard or level of its education.
Ogunbanjo said: “Government must rise to its responsibility of encouraging and developing teachers and teaching as a profession.
“The current trend of engaging just any graduate to teach in our schools must be seriously frowned at and discouraged.
“The Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council has a lot to do in this regard to ensure that the curriculum for our teachers is raised, especially as the world has gone digital.”
According to him, government must intensify efforts in deliberately encouraging the production of more Science and Mathematics teachers just as the quality of teacher education is revisited.
He said: “There should be a policy in place that will ensure that before engaging teachers, they must have education back ground.
“They should make it compulsory for all teachers without such background to go through the Post Graduate Diploma in Education.
“However, It is also a well-known fact that not all teachers who have gone through the colleges of education are employable.|
“Look at the case of Kaduna where the governor had to embark on a massive mop-up exercise over poor practical proficiency in teaching.
“Gone are the days when teaching is seen as an all comers affair or the last resort.
“It must be seen as a profession of great repute and must be celebrated as builder of the nation as well as mother of all profession.”
According to him, for quality to also be enhanced among teachers, there is also the need for government to provide the much needed facilities as well as conducive environment.
He said leaders must stop paying lip service to education.
Ogunbanjo also emphasised on the need for constant and effective monitoring of the activities of teachers in a bid to bring out the best in them.
The National President, Academic Staff Union of Universities, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi, while felicitating with the teachers, called for better recognition of the role of teachers in nation building.
He also that no standard of education that was being sought after would ever rise above the quality of its teachers.
He said: “We must also emphasise training and retraining.
“We must also look inward on what is needed to improve what is on ground.”
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