Industry experts in the education sector insist that continuous investment by private sector in teacher capacity development will tackle the challenges that high need schools face, and unshackle them to contribute to economic development.
Lai Koiki, executive dire-tor, Greensprings School, says teacher training plays a vital role in the development of not just individuals, but also the society.
According to Koiki, if managers of the economy understand what good education can do for an individual and the nation in general, then Nigerians need to be worried about the state of education currently.
Speaking after an interactive session with a team from Teach for Nigeria in Lagos, Koiki says partnering the Teach for Nigeria initiative is targeted at up-scaling teacher capacity, which is the engine room of human capital development aimed at economic growth.
She further says the management of the school will continue to impact the teaching profession because the vision of the school is to reach all the children in Nigeria.
Folawe Omikunle, CEO, Teach for Nigeria, while speaking about the initiative, states that the organisation adapted an approach where outstanding individuals are recruited and trained over a period of time, then are place to teach in high need schools.
According to Omikunle, “Last year, we placed 45 outstanding individuals in 25 schools across Lagos and Ogun states. They have being teaching and impacting academic achievement, aspirations, attitude across the schools they are in. right now they are impacting 2,700 pupils and this year, we are looking to scale and expand the numbers.”
She says the organisation has selected 205 fellows who are undergoing training at Greensprings Schools, which is the most valuable partner that they have locally.
“After the training, we are going to be placing them across three states. We will be placing 105 fellows in Kaduna State, while the remaining 100 will be place across Lagos and Ogun States.
He commended the effort of Greensprings School who are their platinum partner who provided the facility use in training the teachers. Adding that there is no way they would have been able to come this far without the support of the school.
KELECHI EWUZIE
