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For Akwa Ibom public school teachers, a decade of bliss

By Eno-Abasi Sunday
10 December 2017   |   3:11 am
Philosopher and a towering figure in ancient Greek knowledge Aristotle, it was who canvassed that, “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity,” which should be highly priced, and jealously guarded.

First prize winner in chemistry at the 2017 Teaching Excellence in Akwa Ibom State Public Secondary Schools, Gabriel Ukpabio (right); Godwin Akpan, and Francis Willie, who finished in second and third places respectively

Philosopher and a towering figure in ancient Greek knowledge Aristotle, it was who canvassed that, “Education is an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity,” which should be highly priced, and jealously guarded.

It then follows that the teaching profession, which is a pillar of the society, as it gives birth to every other profession, ought to be so recognised and those involved in it should also be appreciated and celebrated. 

Fittingly, because of the roles they have been playing in shaping the destinies of many across the world, teachers are accorded immense respect in some societies, which they live and toil. And as purveyors of knowledge, their selfless contributions to society’s advancement do not go unnoticed, hence in many climes, efforts are made to appreciate them.

   
In a country where teachers are scornfully treated by those they helped mould their destinies, an organisation decided to be different, by rewarding and celebrating public schools’ teachers in Akwa Ibom State, the way it has never been done before.

The Inoyo Toro Foundation (ITF), a not-for-profit organisation with a vision to “eradicate poverty through education,” was established in February 2007, to help improve the standard of education in Akwa Ibom State, using teachers as the focal point, and to complement government’s efforts in enhancing the quality of education.
 
Within its first decade of existence, it has sustained positive contributions to the development of the study of sciences, specifically physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, as well as, English language, economics, visual arts and history in these school. This is through its annual Awards for Teaching Excellence in Akwa Ibom State Public Secondary Schools, which also fosters a positive and healthy competition for excellence among teachers.

Since its inception, over 170 teachers have benefited from the awards, and the intervention trainings/workshops associated with it. In the award, which is meant to recognise, reward, and celebrate teachers, the first, second and third placed winners take home N250, 000, N150, 000 and N100, 000 cash prizes in that order.

As a way of getting more teachers to benefit from the awards/training programme, the foundation six years ago instituted the Grand Mentor Teacher’s Award, an award category, which is aimed at providing an avenue where past teachers’ award winners mentor other teachers in their subject areas, thereby developing their teaching capabilities, honing their mentoring skills and generally making them better teachers. The mentor must himself scale through the written test, in addition to his field performance, before being considered for the award, which comes with N500, 000. About 100 teachers have benefitted from this particular award.

Exceptional school heads, who were bothered about being discountenanced, despite distinguishing themselves in pushing for the academic advancement of their institutions had cause to smile with the introduction of the Principal’s Award.

ITF partners with various private organisations to provide trainings and mentoring opportunities for teachers and students as part of ancillary functions it has happily taken up.

Some of the training programmes that ITF has exposed teachers in the state to are those at the behest of the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria (STAN), and the Organisation for the Women in Science for the Developing World, University of Uyo Branch. Its award winners attend the Annual International Schools Conference, organised by the American International School, Lagos, as well as, an annual mentoring workshop facilitated by Accenture, a consulting firm.

Just to confirm that their awards were truly deserved, some of the award winners have gone ahead to win other major national teachers’ awards, the latest being Mr. Imoh Essien, a Computer, Basic Sciences and Physical education teacher, at the Special Education Center for Exceptional Children in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, who last year won the Maltina Teacher of the Year award.

Aware of the fact that some products of public schools lack confidence, hence their inability to effectively trade tackles in competitive setups, with their counterparts from private schools, the foundation also initiated a Students’ Mentoring Programme, which enables professionals and organisations to adopt schools of their choice (either their alma mater, or a school in their community, or community operations in the case of organisations) and engage in mentoring select students from the school on an ongoing basis.

The objective of this programme is to broaden the participating students’ perspective about life, enhance their self-esteem, and motivate them to become better students.

This window also offers individual mentors and organisations, the opportunity to give back to their communities by investing in education. Of the 244 public schools in the state, 60 schools have been registered in the mentoring programme, and about 1,600 students are currently benefitting from it. 

In partnership with Bank PHB, the foundation in 2012 delivered fully equipped computer laboratories to Cornelia Cornelly College, Uyo; Methodist Boys High School, Oron; Independence High School, Ukana Ikot Ntuen, and Salvation Army Secondary School, Akai Ubium.
Ahead of its 10th anniversary celebration, which had as its theme,  “Effective Partnership for Sustainable Excellence in Education,” the state government honoured the foundation for its invaluable contribution to the state’s education advancement.

At the 10th anniversary celebration, which recently held in Uyo, chairman of the award screening committee, Dr. Enobong E. Joshua, reiterated the foundation’s unwavering commitment to encouraging science and mathematics teachers, as well as, that of English language and some other endangered subjects in public secondary schools; stimulate awareness for the study of these subjects; promote healthy and positive competition for excellence among teachers; help teachers to be more committed to their profession as they constantly ​update their knowledge and help to mentor other colleagues, and provide mentorship opportunities for students of public secondary ​schools in the state by volunteers drawn from different professions.

He added that the awards, which has now been dubbed as “Teachers’ Appreciation Day” in the state, has fostered a positive and healthy competition for excellence amongst teachers. With over 1, 560 teachers in the net, of which over 170 teachers have benefited directly from the monetary awards and intervention trainings/workshops, the awareness and competitiveness of teachers in public schools in the state has been phenomenal. 

According to Joshua, the modalities for assessment of schools for the award include: appraisal of the learning facilities and environment; availability of modestly equipped laboratories (for the science subjects) and libraries; the score of students of the school in external examinations, and assessment of the teacher based on his productivity and professional competence in his teaching subject area.

The final screening test for selection of the winning teacher is in two parts. The first part is an aptitude test based on the WAEC/NECO curriculum, while the second part is an oral interaction between the resource persons and those, who pass reasonably well in the written test. In order to strengthen the excellence of the award, the first, second and third prizes can only be merited if a contestant scores at least 70 per cent, at least 60 per cent, and at least 50 per cent respectively in the final results.

Joshua, who said the foundation was, sadly noticing a decline in the performance of some of the teachers, a development he said was also responsible for the public schools failing to perform well in some of the subjects under consideration, urged “school authorities and educational managers to sit up, raise the tempo of the school and cause teachers to be conscientious and diligent in their duties.”

However, if the teachers that gathered at the expansive lounge of Le Meridien Ibom Hotel and Golf Resort needed a role model and a source of inspiration, they found all that in the guest speaker and Commander, Infantry Corps, Nigerian Army College, Jaji, Kaduna State, Major General Isidore Henry Edet.

Edet, who initially trained as a teacher at the Teacher Training College, Ikom, Cross River State, did not speak poetry. Instead, he retold his life story to the over 1, 000 teachers, students and invited guests present, stressing the need for them not to wallow in self pity, but work hard and be determined to succeed. Born in Ewang, a sleepy, fishing community in Mbo Council Area of Akwa Ibom State, Edet said he had to walk several kilometers and cross a river to and from school, all in a bid to rise above the circumstances of his birth.

“I was born into a poor, but very strict Christian family. Emphasis was laid on discipline, hard work and faith in God … My mother was a very hard working, but illiterate. She, however, knew the value of education. She sold pepper soup and palm wine as a trade. My father was a canoe maker, because my community was a fishing community. Later on when the fortunes of making canoes went down, he became a trader in crayfish. It was in these circumstances that I was raised.

“I didn’t have the luxury of wearing shoes to school. I had no backpacks to carry my books. During the rainy season, I had no umbrella and at a point in my life, I used to walk two kilometres to attend school in a nearby village, and I had to cross the Mbo River. I usually left home very early. Breakfast was sure, but lunch was always very uncertain. During the high tides, I always waited across the river and was always at the mercy of a canoe man, who will only come from the far bank when he reckoned that he had enough passengers to pay stipends that will reward his energy for paddling the canoe through such tides. Sometimes we could stay there under the sun from when the school closes to about 5pm before we would cross the river and most times I will get home around 6pm or 7pm very tired. I will manage to have dinner and sleep often times. Upon my return, I had to do domestic chores by either fetching firewood for my mother or water from the village stream,” the army general recalled.

By divine providence, Edet became a teacher at 19, upon completing his studies at the Teachers Training College, Ikom, Cross River State in 1980.Having passed the Teachers Grade Two Certificate exams at first attempt, Edet, who did not aspire for a career in the military ab initio got employment as a teenager.

The army chief, who admitted that things have not really changed much in terms of teachers remuneration since he joined the profession said whenever he was paid his salary arrears of about four to five months, he would travel to Uyo to buy old newspapers and foreign magazines from where he read of the inspiring stories of the careers of the military people in the United States, United Kingdom Canada and Australia among others.

“I loved their smart uniforms, the insignia, the badges of ranks and the medals. So, I dreamt to one day become a soldier and perhaps an officer. A man in my community was indeed a great influence. He was a self-made man, who never saw the walls of a secondary school. He was self-taught. After his primary school education, he enlisted into the Nigerian Air Force and was posted to Lagos. He availed himself of what used to be known as correspondence college, which was prevalent in Yaba Area of Lagos and Surulere.

Meeting the air force personnel, who ended up as a chartered accountant, after graduating from the University of Calabar, became the game-changing moment for the young Edet, as he went on to study, registered for the General Certificate of Education (GCE) Ordinary Level and passed all subjects that he needed to be qualified for admission into the Nigeria Defence Academy.

“So the values I learnt as a teacher are the values of hard work, the values of punctuality, discipline, especially self-discipline not imposed discipline; the values of orderliness, the values of neatness…I can tell you with all honesty since the day I entered the NDA on the 4th of July 1983 and till this moment, I have never been issued a query or disciplined in any way…”

Commissioned on June 28,1986, into the Infantry Corps of the Nigerian Army, Edet, who also mentors secondary school students said “every moment of my life in the military, I have made effort at self-development. I attended self-funded courses, with the support of my wife, having attended the NDA before the degree programme was introduced…” After attending several military courses, Edet said he was nominated to attend the Advance Command and Staff Course, after his junior and senior staff courses at the Armed Forces’ Command and Staff College, Jaji, where he also taught. He was subsequently nominated for the advanced 2nd command, and 2nd staff courses at the Joint Services College in Shrivenham, United Kingdom. From there, he went on to acquire a Masters of Arts degree in Defence Studies from Kings College, London, and thereafter a master’s degree in Security Sector Management from Cranfield University.

He urged the students to be passionate about pursuing their dreams, have self-discipline, faith in God and good character, which he said enhances and secures their dreams.To the teachers, he urged them keep working hard to mould lives in view of the legion of distractions students have to contend with in this age.He also urged them to teach students “to speak up and criticise the school authorities without being rude or insolent.

Don’t shut them down when they try to speak their thoughts about a situation. Instead guide them to do it right. Times have changed in our country and society. People listen more to the voices of sycophancy and patronage.”

Governor Udom Emmanuel in his remarks paid tribute to the President of the Chartered Institute of Personel Management (CIPM), Mr. Udom Inoyo, and his wife, Ntekpe, for driving the awards for a decade, “under the auspices of the Inoyo Toro Foundation. He equally commend the management and staff of the Foundation for this great initiative.

Describing the initiative as a patriotic and noble exercise, he said, “We live in a time and space when we celebrate the superstructures, while not recognising the fact that without the substructure, they can be no superstructures.
We pay tribute to the political Irokos and business moguls, but forget that their roots are the teachers, who moulded and shaped them for success. Therefore, we commend the Inoyo Toro Foundation for digging under the pile to unveil the truth we rarely face.

The truth that we owe a debt of gratitude to our teachers for what we are today.Chairman of the occasion and Managing Director of Desicon Group, Akanimoh Asuquo Udofia, who was represented by the deputy managing director of the group, Mr. Ajaya Sivan, who said the event was a “celebration of our finest, unsung heroes and heroines,” expressed delight that the ITF “is in the forefront of improving the quality of education and teachers in our state. The foundation’s motto of eradicating poverty through education and the efforts of the board of trustees and their team is indeed laudable.”

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