2022 World Teachers’ Day Celebration At Eagle Square, Abuja

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SPEECH BY HIS EXCELLENCY, PROF. YEMI OSINBAJO, SAN, GCON, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE 2022 WORLD TEACHERS’ DAY CEREMONY ON THE 5TH OF OCTOBER, 2022

 

PROTOCOLS

 

I bring you all the warm felicitations of the President, President Muhammadu Buhari, who had agreed to be personally present today, but could not because he has to preside over a crucial FEC meeting on the Budget today.

 

October 5th  is a very special date. It is the day we celebrate the very best of us and perhaps the most important persons in our nation. Teachers. Those men and women who daily go into classrooms to banish ignorance, imbue knowledge and inspire and nurture the minds of millions of young people one school day at a time.

 

It is the day in the year  when we  say what we should say every day to our teachers, “thank you.” Thank you for your patience, commitment, your sacrifice, your hard work amidst many challenges.

 

No society can grow beyond its educational attainments. One of the major differences between healthy, well-functioning and prosperous societies and poorer societies is education. We owe so much of our well-being as a nation to our educators at every level.

 

Indeed our future as a nation is so heavily dependent on education and our educators. This explains why the Federal Government is determined to return teachers, teaching and the teaching profession to their rightful places.

 

To this end, we are fully implementing the professional teaching and teacher qualification framework standards that will invariably impact on education outcomes and teacher performance at the preschool, basic, secondary and tertiary levels.

We are also developing a verifiable database of teachers in Nigeria, already the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has registered 2, 108, 342 teachers and licensed 1,250,000 teachers.

 

Our new teachers’ policy is already being implemented at the Federal level and in some States and I urge States that have not done so, to do so immediately, the gains are already showing.

 

The theme of this year’s teachers’ day is “The Transformation Of Education Begins With Teachers.” It emphasizes the importance of teachers to educational transformation but also introduces the important responsibility that teachers themselves have, that is to be at the cutting edge of advancements in education and especially the use of technology and modern teaching methods.

 

Education must respond to the dynamism, speed of development and massive changes in society.  Educators must understand the skills required to take full advantage of a world almost completely dependent on technology. In addition to listening, education today includes writing, ideation, imagining, and critical thinking skills. It is no longer merely learning by rote.

 

The role of teachers in mediating this transition to the digital age has never been more important than it is today. We live in one of the most rapidly advancing moments in human history. Technology is redefining every aspect of our lives at a dizzying speed, and those who do not keep pace will be left behind. This is true for our children and the young people under our watch today, as it is true for teachers.

 

But in spite of how intimidating and disruptive new waves of technology appear to be, they usher in opportunities for greater efficiency, increased productivity, and growth. We only need to rise to its demands.

 

What does this mean for us as teachers in a changing world? When I say us, I also mean myself because I also started teaching in 1981which is about 41 years ago. So consider me one of you.

 

We are charged with a generation with a strong sense of curiosity and independent thinking. Digital natives are born into the fast and free flow of information, with infinite potential for learning just about anything. It will become increasingly difficult to provide the learning, instruction, and guidance with our calling as teachers require of us, without integrating technology into our pedagogy, and doing so at scale.

 

Teaching has always required a scientific approach. We have always had generic and customized ways of developing learning objectives, choosing methods of instruction, and designing systems for feedback and assessment. What we have to do today is to see how these existing frameworks can guide our adoption of new technology, and enhance the learning experiences of our students.

 

What instructional technologies can we incorporate into our learning plans? Can audio-visual and digital media provide clarity for students and stimulate their imaginations a  bit more? Can online curriculums foster collaborations between teachers and students beyond the classroom?

 

The truth is, we have a huge opportunity in our hands to leapfrog development in education through technology. But to do this we must continue to invest in expanding our capacity as teachers. We cannot integrate technology successfully, as urgently as we need to, without training and equipping teachers.

 

I promise you the government will always continue to champion this and it is the role of the government to plant the seeds and provide the resources that we speak of, including the private sector.

 

Under the N-Power Scheme, we provided a technology platform that enabled quick and efficient training for large numbers of teachers in every local government. Collaborating with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Oracle Academy, Microsoft, Cisco Academy, and IBM, it was a successful test case for the readiness of Nigerian teachers to run smart classrooms and expand the integration of technology in our educational systems.

 

We have also launched the Nigerian  Learning Passport,  a digital learning platform with online, mobile, and offline capability that enables continuous access to quality education.

 

Technology has also infinitely expanded the opportunities for teachers to develop themselves professionally and to broaden their career trajectories. There are tons of materials and courses available online for aiding teacher’s professional development.

 

The International Development Research Center, for example, has a collaborative Teacher’s Guide for Remote Learning available to teachers globally, a comprehensive resource material that positions teachers to leverage technology for continued engagement with their students beyond the classroom, providing a resilient option during school closures and beyond.

 

Across Africa, there are over 200 Edtech startups providing impactful, homegrown innovations to bridge the gap in education. In Nigeria, serial entrepreneur Sim Shagaya’s U-Lesson provides a wide range of educational content for primary and secondary students in line with the curriculum of five countries, including Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, the United States and the United Kingdom.

 

The lessons are delivered in transferable data that can be plugged into and used on a range of devices including computers, tablets, and mobile phones.

 

We also have Edukoya, which in 2021 raised a sum of $3.5 million in pre-seed funding, and is working to build a pan-African classroom that empowers parents, students and teachers by democratizing access to high-quality education.

 

All of these platforms provide a collaborative environment for teachers, tech entrepreneurs, and policymakers to improve access for teachers and students alike. We must engage with these homegrown solutions, provide feedback, and adapt them so they can fit into the peculiar circumstances of our schools and development in technology.

Whereas our previous pedagogy inadvertently produced students who were good stores of crammed information, the demands of the future require that we position our young people to think for themselves, absorb and process the wealth of information available to them, and to tease out useful knowledge.

 

But we cannot give what we don’t have, so we must stay on the cutting edge of research, learning, and development. We can only guide our students in the direction where we ourselves have been. This is what our calling as teachers requires of us today. Let us plug ourselves into the global knowledge pool.

 

There are countless exchange programs available, we can take advantage of, that allow for the cross-pollination of ideas between teachers all over the world. Let us reach for every resource available to us to better equip ourselves for the challenging and rewarding task of preparing ourselves and our young people to meet the demands of our changing world.

 

I congratulate you as you continue to strive and push the boundaries of your most honourable profession. You have our continued support and endless admiration. Thank you for your service.

 

Happy World Teachers’ Day and God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

 

Thank you.

 



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