Two hundred and forty secondary school teachers  in Enugu State and 10 directors of the Ministry of Education commenced a four-day training Monday to build capacity and knowledge for implementation of the new Basic and Senior Secondary School curriculum approved by the Federal Ministry of Education.

Enugu State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Dr Simeon Ortuanya, said the State Government organised the training to “help participants and their students build on the gains of the nine-year Basic Education Curriculum and also connect logically to the learning expectations and experiences as to be successful at the tertiary education level.”

Dr. Ortuanya assured that the “Enugu State Government is determined to reform the teacher training model to show respect for teachers as professionals,” adding: “His Excellency, Governor Sullivan Chime, understands the need for continuous professional development, therefore the decision to bring the best minds led by Prof. Onyia to provide a research-based model that will sensitise teachers on the content and process expectations for this new curriculum.”

A statement made available to News Express explained that the “Capacity Building for Teachers Based on the Revised Basic and Senior Secondary Education Curriculum and Implementation in
Enugu State” programme is as part of Governor Chime’s strategic moves towards actualising the education aspect of his four-point agenda. The pilot training is a train the trainer programme as the Enugu State Government expects the participants to train others.
Organisers are OrgLearning Limited, an educational, human asset and ICT development firm. Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, chairman, said OrgLearning would train a minimum of 60 teachers per day comprising various staff of Enugu State Secondary School System on the new Federal Ministry of Education curriculum.

According to Prof. Onyia, the training project is of strategic importance and sensitivity as it aims at tackling the gaping need for retraining of teachers to be equipped with the requisite skills necessary for the implementation of the new Universal Basic Education UBE curriculum.

“This project would help participants and their students build on the gains of the nine-year Basic Education Curriculum and also connect logically to the learning expectations and experiences to be successful in the tertiary education level,” Prof. Onyia asserted.

According to him, “Teachers are the frontline of implementation of all educational policies. With everyday expansion in knowledge, facts are changing and the teacher has to be kept abreast of developments in knowledge in their subject area as well as in the methods of teaching. Thus, continuous professional development to update the teacher in both content and methods of teaching is crucial for the school system to keep good teachers and sustain quality education.”

He outlined the training needs to be tackled by the programme as

• Mastery of the subject matter as well as the philosophy ad goals of teaching that subject at that level;
• Mastery of general and subject-specific teaching strategies;
• Knowledge of the learner, learning theories, principles and methods and
• Good personality as a leader and positive attitudes to the students and the subject matter.

The OrgLearning chairman that the programme was developed based on research findings of the lack of capacity of teachers to fit into the changes and challenges of the new educational system under the UBE and recognition of the important roles that teachers play in the scheme of national development. Citing the National Policy on Education (1977, 1981 & 1998), which asserts that education is the instrument par excellence for effecting national development, he stated that an effective educational system must therefore have the capacity to respond to the needs of national development at every point in time.

“This dynamic nature of education makes it imperative that the operators of the education system themselves must respond to changes as the system demands. That the position of the teacher in education (hence, in national development) is central and cannot be over-emphasised; the same policy document observes, “No education system can rise above the level of its teachers,” he stated.

Courses of the training programme will cover four key areas in Civic Education, Cultural and Creative Arts (including the dramatic aspects of literature in English arts), Information and Communication Technology and Entrepreneurial Development.

*Photo: Governor Chime.