By Magnus Emuji
Delta State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs. Rose Ezewu has commended the State Governor, Senator (Dr.) Ifeanyi Okowa for his continued resolve to upgrade the capacity of teachers as well improving the standard of education in the state.
Ezewu gave the commendation during capacity building workshop organised for teachers on training models on Pedagogical Skills and Strategies for secondary and technical schools held at the Teachers Professional Development Centre (TPDC) , Owa-Oyibu in Ika North East Local Government Area of the state.
While declaring the workshop open, Ezewu described teaching profession as crucial to the growth and development of the society just as she said that teachers should be consistently trained in line with the modern trends.
She said that the training was aimed at equipping the teachers on appropriate methodology to improve the teaching and learning process, adding that the outcome of the workshop would be beneficial to teachers and learners in secondary and technical schools in the state.
In her welcome address, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Delta, Agbor, Prof. Stella Chiemeke, who noted that the standard of education in Nigeria had been on consistent decline, stressed that stakeholders including teachers, parents and researchers had critical role to play towards improving the educational standards.
Prof. Chiemeke said that the main aim of pedagogy was to build on previous learning of the students and work on the development of skills as well as attitudes of the learners , adding that pedagogy would enable students to get a thorough understanding of the subject and help them in applying those learning in their daily lives outside of the classroom.
The University of Delta Vice Chancellor reminded them that a good teacher must constantly improve on his or her pedagogy which encompassed teaching quality and effectiveness even as she said that effective pedagogies focused on developing higher thinking and metacognition as well as make good use of dialogue and questioning.
Prof. Chiemeke, however, lauded Senator Ifeanyi Okowa for the deeming it necessary to train and retrain teachers in the state and for the growth and development of the education sector, explaining that the TPDC under the watch of the Director General, Dr. Tony Dibashi had continued to realise its objectives of training and retraining of teachers.
Earlier in a goodwill message, the State Commissioner for Technical Education, Hon. Shola Ogbemi- Daibo , who enjoined the participants to take the training serious and ensure that they impact positively on the students just as the Director of Operations, Teachers Professional Development Centre, Mr. Peter Makpamekun appreciated the stakeholders in the education sector for their pivotal role in ensuring that the workshop was successful.
Speaking in an interview with newsmen, the Director General of the Teachers Professional Development Centre, Dr. Tony Dibashi said that the training was to improve the teaching methodology of teachers and advised teachers to maximise the benefits of the workshop.
It could be recalled that the University of Delta (UNIDEL) organised the training in collaboration with the Teachers Professional Development Centre (TPDC) .