By Sunny A. Ijomah
Anambra State has won four awards at the 2019 President’s Teachers and Schools Excellence Awards.
The award ceremony, part of this year’s World Teachers’ Day Celebration held in Abuja on Saturday, 5th October, 2019.
Our correspondent reports that Anambra State received two of the four cars given out as prizes.
The prizes included a brand new Hyundai Accent saloon car for the Best School Administrator, which went to Reverend Sister Veronica Onwuadi of Maria Regina Model Comprehensive Secondary School, Nnewi while Flora Azikiwe Model Secondary School, Neni received an eighteen Seater School Bus as the overall Best School in Public Schools Category.
Other prizes included the first runner up Secondary School in Private Category which went to Mr. Arinze Izuegbunam of British Spring College Awka while Mr. Samuel Izuegbu of Community Secondary School, Owerri Ezukalla clinched the second runner up prize in the Public Secondary category.
In his keynote address, President Muhamadu Buhari, represented by the Minister for Justice and Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami SAN, described the theme for the celebration as apt since it focuses on the continuous role of the teacher in impacting knowledge for human capital development.
He stated that successful inclusive education is achievable in Nigeria through accepting, understanding, and attending to student’s differences and diversities.
President Buhari, stated that beyond being a basic right, education improves social outcomes in many spheres of life.
According to him, for individuals and families, education boosts human capital, improves economic opportunities, promotes good health and expands the ability to make effective choices while for society, it expands the economic opportunities, promotes social mobility and makes institutions function more effectively.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Architect Sonny Echono, said the ministry is fully committed to constant upgrading of teaching standards and content to boost teacher quality in Nigeria in aspects such as professional knowledge, skills, values, attitude and conduct and professional membership obligations and leadership.
Speaking to newsmen, elated Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kate Omenugha, said the victory has shown that Anambra State government’s support of the education sector is not in vain.
She counted the ICT training for over ten thousand teachers in the State, bonuses, promotions, salaries as and when due among many other incentives as some of the State government’s efforts in the sector.
Prof. Omenugha disclosed that Governor Willie Obiano is doing all within available resources to ensure that education in the State meets with global standards so as to produce what will be termed Anambra certified teachers.
The Commissioner called on Anambra teachers who are yet to key into the State educational dreams, to do so and develop themselves to meet up with the demands of the profession.
The overall winners, Reverend Sister Veronica Onwuadi and Mrs. Ngozi Amako said they succeeded because they have an education friendly Governor in Chief Willie Obiano, a hard working Commissioner, Prof. Kate Omenugha and her team as well as team players who are dedicated in their schools
For the first and second runners up respectively, they excelled by making teaching and learning easier and more enjoyable thereby motivating students who hitherto had no interest in education to become interested.
The theme for this year’s world Teachers Day is Young Teachers: The Future of the Profession.
