World Teachers Day: Obaseki lauds teachers contribution to development, promises better days for Edo teachers

The Edo State governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has lauded the contributions of teachers to human and societal development across the globe, assuring that his administration is committed to improved teachers’ welfare with sustained collaboration of Edo teachers.

Obaseki gave the commendation on the occasion of the commemoration of World Teachers’ Day marked on October 5, each year.

“On a day like this, we must acknowledge the role teachers play in upholding the trust that parents and the society have  in teachers.

“Teachers are special people and deserve to be celebrated for their immense contributions to human and societal development. Daily, they painstakingly groom, nurture and mould minds and equip generations with legally and socially approved practices, skills, norms and values,” the governor said.

He emphasised that “Teachers set the tone for society’s growth and development. The quality of our human capital is measured by the quality of teachers and their disposition to raising generations of thoroughly bred youths that are sound, both in character and knowledge and are ready to take their place in the global space.”

Obaseki explained that “In Edo State, we have identified the critical role of teachers in our growth plan and this informed our decision to birth the Edo State Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) programme, that has kick-started a series of reforms in the education sector.

According to him, “Edo-BEST programme is developing a pool of highly-skilled teaching workforce for the state, by training, supporting and motivating Edo State teachers to succeed in the classroom of tomorrow; enhance the Edo State Basic Education curriculum thereby empowering children to compete effectively in the world of work.

“The programme has started leapfrogging the basic education delivery systems by leveraging technology in education provision, gathering and utilising accurate and timely data to drive policy and planning decisions.

The governor added that “In the programme, every teacher receives tablets loaded with digital lesson plans for every lesson needed for each day”.

“Head teachers are given smart phones and provided with monthly data to enable them use the software in the smart phone to register all children and take attendance and manage teacher performance in each classroom every day.”

The United Nations said that Teachers’ Day which is held annually on October 5, since 1994, “commemorates the anniversary of the adoption of the 1966 ILO/UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers.

“This Recommendation sets benchmarks regarding the rights and responsibilities of teachers and standards for their initial preparation and further education, recruitment, employment, and teaching and learning conditions.

“The Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel was adopted in 1997 to complement the 1966 Recommendation by covering teaching and research personnel in higher education.

“With the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goal 4 on education, and the dedicated target (SDG 4.c) recognising teachers as key to the achievement of the Education 2030 agenda, WTD has become the occasion to mark progress and reflect on ways to counter the remaining challenges for the promotion of the teaching profession.

“As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day this year, we take this occasion to remind the global community that “The right to education means the right to a qualified teacher.

“This theme was chosen to mark the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), where education is recognised as a key fundamental right. A right that cannot be fulfilled without qualified teachers,” the global body said.

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