From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
Acknowledging that teachers are critical stakeholders in the development of the future generation, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and House of Representatives member representing Ekiti North Federal Constituency 1, Hon. Akin Rotimi Jr, has organised a capacity development programme for 200 public school teachers in Ekiti State to enhance their service delivery.
The two-day programme, which held in Oye-Ekiti, fortified the teachers with modern teaching techniques.
The training workshop which had the teachers drawn from Oye and Ikole Local Government Areas of the state tagged ‘Strengthening Foundations of Practice’ was in conjunction with NurtureHouse Consulting.
The federal lawmaker noted that the programme was in fulfilment of his campaign promises to the people and also to ensure that no one is left behind in the scheme of things.
The Chairman, House Committee on Media and Public Affairs who said the central theme of the programme is to ensure that no one is left behind in the scheme of things, identified that some children have learning disabilities, and it is important they are carried along . He therefore hinted on the establishment of a special school to assist children in this category.
Speaking at the end of the programme, he said
“It is important for me that our teachers, who are critical stakeholders in the development of the future generation have the right skills and techniques to be able to keep abreast of the challenges in the system.
“I thought it was important that we have this capacity development programme to equip our teachers. I am grateful to God I found a good partner in NurtureHouse Consulting to be able to provide training for our teachers in the past two days.
“The critical areas have been leaving no one behind, which is the central theme for the entire training. We realised that there are different children with learning disabilities, increase in cases like autism and other personality traits.
“For some of our teachers, these things are not very common. They don’t really understand these things. So, it is important that we have professionals come and teach them about this and have inclusive teaching environment to nurture the future generation.”
Speaking on establishing special school for children with special needs, the federal lawmaker called on teachers to be at the frontline in the fight against Gender Based Violence, disclosing that
he would consult critical stakeholders on the need to establish a special school in his constituency.
“We also realised that Gender Based Violence is a big issue in the society and it’s important that we enlist teachers as frontline advocates against GBV. They are the ones that spend a lot of time with the children. They are the ones that can spot children that are visibly disturbed and to make teaching around preventing GBV within our schools.
“By the grace of God that’s one of the things I have in mind for children with special needs. But you realise that as the representative of a constituency, I don’t have the locus standing to do things by myself and a broader context as a representative of the state.
“But what we are doing is eliciting voices of critical stakeholders and if we are able to show that we have a critical consensus around the fact that we need a special school for children with special needs, then I would have business of been able to champion that as a constituency project.
“I’m hoping that I can consult broadly with stakeholders and then we can build a consensus that this one of the things that has to be prioritise. I think it’s desirable for a constituency that has 450,000 people in the population and not having one single special school. I think we need one.”
Commenting on the killing of a 200-level Nursing student of the Federal University, Oye-Ekiti ( FUOYE), Modupe Deborah Atanda, the lawmaker condemned the dastardly act while demanding that she gets justice.
“It’s a very dastardly act, and very sad one. There is what we call safe space where such should never happen and the school environment is one of them. It’s a very sad development and worrisome.
“Modupe Deborah Atanda gets justice and the perpetrators are brought to book and be able to ensure that we would never have such occurrence. I condemn it and it’s deeply distressing and very sad.
“I stand by the Student Union Government and other stakeholders, as well as the family to extend my deepest condolences and to call again the authorities to ensure that this never happens again.”