*STAKEHOLDERS CANVASS WAYS TO MAKE TEACHING ATTRACTIVE
(From Left to Right: Professor Ngozi
Osarenren, Key note Speaker and Head of Department, Educational Foundations,
University of Lagos; Mr
Felix
Udochukwu Ariguzo, 2017 Maltina Teacher of the Year; Mr. Kufre Ekanem,
Corporate Affairs Adviser, Nigerian Breweries Plc; Dr. Saadatu Saidu, Permanent
Secretary, Kano State Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation
and Barrister Okechukwu Okoroafor, Assistant General Secretary, Nigerian Union
of Teachers, at the flag-off of 2018
Maltina Teacher of the Year in Lagos)
Stakeholders in the
education sector have emphasised the importance of teachers and proffered solutions
on how to attract the best to the teaching profession in order to enhance the nation’s
growth and development.
The stakeholders made
their position known at the flag-off of the 2018 Maltina Teacher-of-the-Year in
Lagos on Friday. The Maltina Teacher of the Year, an initiative of Nigerian
Breweries Plc-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, was established in 2015 to identify,
showcase and reward outstanding teachers in Nigeria.
In a paper to formally
commence this year’s edition, the Head of Department of Educational Foundations
at the University of Lagos, Professor Ngozi Osarenren explained that teachers are invaluable
drivers of societal norms and the teaching profession must be respected to
attract the best and the brightest.
Osarenren, a former
Commissioner for Education in Edo State, noted that if Nigeria must be saved
from the menace of unqualified and
incompetent teachers, the nation must find career oriented teachers who want to
do the job for their passion and not because it is the last option available.
She listed other factors
that could attract the best hands to the profession to include
professionalisation of teaching, reasonable and guaranteed salary, job security
and competitive entry requirements for would-be teachers.
On his part, the Managing
Director of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Mr Jordi Borrut Bel explained that in 2015, the Nigerian
Breweries Plc-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund expanded its intervention in
education in Nigeria to teachers through the Maltina Teacher of the Year initiative.
According to Borrut Bel, who was represented by the Company’s Corporate Affairs Adviser, Mr
Kufre Ekanem, said the
initiative was hinged on the realisation that teachers seldom get the
recognition they deserve in spite of the pivotal role they play in determining
the quality of education. He disclosed that so far, the Maltina Teacher of the
Year initiative has produced 69 state champions and three overall winners.
He further disclosed that
entries for the 2018
Maltina Teacher of the Year opened on Friday, May 25, 2018 and will close on July
2nd 2018. Interested teachers are advised to download application forms from
the Maltina website – www.maltina-nigeria.com. Applications forms
should be completed and uploaded to the website or sent by email to maltinateacheroftheyear@heineken.com or post to
P.M.B. 12632, Marina, Lagos.
According
to Borrut Bel, the 2018 Maltina Teacher of the Year will get N1 million, a
trophy and another N1 million every year for the next five years, and a block
of classrooms built at the school where he or she teaches.
The first runner-up will
receive N1 million and a trophy, while the second runner-up will have N750, 000
and a trophy. In addition, each state champion, including the winner and the
first and the second runners-up will get N500, 000.
Also at the flag-off, the
2017 Maltina Teacher of the Year, Mr Felix Udochukwu Ariguzo urged the government and other corporate organisations to emulate the
example of Nigerian Breweries and motivate teachers so as to improve the
standard of education in the country.
Other dignitaries at the flag-off included Barrister
Okechkwu Okoroafor, Assistant General Secretary, Nigerian Union of Teachers, Dr. Saadatu Saidu, Permanent Secretary, Kano State
Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Biola Baiyewu, Director
of Establishment in the Lagos State Ministry of Education, who represented the
Permanent Secretary, Mr. Nwankwo Linus, Permanent Secretary, Anambra State
Ministry of Education among others.
The Maltina Teacher of
the Year initiative, has since inception, produced three grand winners: Rose
Nkemdilim Obi, Anambra (2015), Imoh Essien, Akwa Ibom (2016) and Felix,
Ariguzo, Delta State (2017).
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