By Ayo Fadimu
Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has trained over 12,600 teachers, head teachers and other personnel of the board in the last quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of this year(2021).
The Executive Chairman, Ekiti SUBEB, Prof Femi Akinwumi who made this known in Ado-Ekiti while declaring open a 5- Day training programme for Early Childhood Education Caregivers in the state explained that personnel trained on modern teaching methodology and other ways of improving service delivery in public schools in the state during the period include 10,762 teachers of public primary and secondary schools, 700 newly recruited teachers, 908 Head teachers, 202 Quality Assurance & School Support Officers and 28 members of the SUBEB Management.
According to him, “Teachers and other personnel critical to quality service delivery in the Basic Education sector in the State were exposed to trainings on a wide range of topics including; 21st century teaching methodologies, school safety, Digital Literacy, Jolly Phonics, School Based Model Training as well as Leadership and Strategic Management in the COVID-19 Era.”
While stressing that the training was a manifestation of the harmonious working relationship between Ekiti SUBEB and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Akinwumi commended the Administration of Governor Kayode Fayemi for paying all outstanding UBEC Counterpart funds for 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 totaling over N7.3 billion, adding that this has paved way for the ongoing transformation in the basic education sector particularly in the areas of infrastructure and capacity development of staff.
He added that reputable Educational Institutions including the Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti; Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-ife; Federal University Oye-Ekiti; and the National Institute for Educational Planning and Admistration (NIEPA), Ondo were involved in the training programmes
The SUBEB Boss urged participants at the training programme to pay rapt attention to the resource persons so that the programme would have the required multiplier effect when they get to their various schools.
Also speaking at the event, the UBEC State Coordinator, Mr Joshua Arema stressed the importance of training and retraining of teachers in achieving efficiency in basic education sector noting that the present administration in the State was taking full advantage of UBEC intervention programmes to reposition basic education in the state.
In a Keynote Address, the Acting Deputy Vice Chancellor of the Bamidele Olumilua University of Education, Science and Technology, Dr O. A. Makinde stressed the importance of Pre Primary Education in the educational development of pupils
According to her, as the foundation level of education, the Pre-Primary Classes are quite important to what a pupil grows up to become in life.