thisday0520

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THISDAY • WEDNESDAY MAY 20, 2015
EDUCATION
LearnAfrica Trains
Teachers of Core Subjects
Peace Obi
Inspired by the fact that the attainment of
any nation’s educational goals depends
largely on the quality of its teachers,
LearnAfrica Plc, publishers of educational
and instructional materials recently
organised a one-day workshop titled
‘A New Beginning in the Teaching and
Learning of Mathematics and English
Language’, for select primary school
teachers in Lagos State.
The workshop, which had specialists in
the subjects of focus as resource persons,
was designed to empower teachers handling
core subjects such as English Language and
Mathematics to improve their effectiveness
in teaching, as well as expose them to
some new teaching techniques that will
make the learning of these subjects easier
for the students.
It was also meant to provide update
for teachers and school administrators on
the new curriculum that was introduced
last September, as well as the presentation
of some of the new books the publishing
outfit has come up with in response to
the requirements of the new curriculum.
The Managing Director, Mr. Segun
Oladipo, said the workshop was one of
the company’s initiatives at improving the
teaching skills of the teachers drawn from
public and private schools in the state.
“This is the first in the series for this
year; this workshop will take place in
other selected locations like Ibadan,
Owerri, Abuja, Zaria and Jos within the
next one week.
“It is one of our initiatives to support
teacher education so that they can
sharpen their skills and acquire additional
knowledge that will empower them to
improve their effectiveness in teaching,
make learning more interesting for the
students.” Oladipo, who commended
the state government for its massive
investment in education, said the state
has demonstrated its strong believe in
using education as a tool for development.
Declaring the event open, the Commissioner
for Education, Mrs. Olayinka
Oladunjoye, represented by the Director,
Research and Curriculum Department, Mrs.
Joy Ojei, said for the newly introduced
curriculum to be fully put into use, a lot
of work has to be done.
“With the new curriculum we have
now, we have a lot of things to do,
particularly in the primary section. I am
happy that LearnAfrica is carrying out
this workshop because it means before
our next book review we would have
the materials like books to work with
as regards the new curriculum.”
She assured the participants of being in
safe hands, saying that given the state’s
long dealings with the publishing outfit,
it has been adjudged a good and reliable
partner as far as education is concerned.
She also advised them to find a way
of replicating what they learnt in their
various schools.
The Director and Head, South West
Zone, Nigerian Educational Research
and Development Council, Dr. Moses
Salau, said the curriculum review became
necessary as the old one could no longer
serve the country’s educational needs,
as well as the need to make it remain
globally competitive. He added that the
curriculum change is aimed at dealing
with the issues of illiteracy by initiating
such educational policy that would make
Nigerian children, irrespective of their
gender or the socio-economic status of
the parents, have access to education
without an option of dropping out of
school within the first nine years.
“With the basic education programme,
when a child enters primary one, he/
she is not allowed to drop out until
he/she spends the first nine years in
school. And it is a criminal offense to
allow a child drop out of school.
“A child must spend a minimum of
nine years in school because we want to
tackle the basic problems of illiteracy. We
want to have an educated hairdresser,
educated driver, tailor, educated gardner.”
Don’t Let Reading Die!
•Our world is gradually moving away from books and
reading and firmly endorsing computer monitors and
television screens over and above reading. The importance
of developing a passion for reading cannot be overlooked.
Reading is a habit and should be established when the child
is relatively young. What then can parents do to foster
this habit?
If your’re a new mum, read and sing to your child while he/
she is still in your womb. Scientific research has shown
that this contributes to children’s language development.
Read stories, rhymes, poems to your children while they
are babies, toddlers and young children. There are specially
written books for children of all ages.
This way you’d be initiating children into the world of
books and reading. Your little ones could repeat words
and sentences after you; answer simple context based
questions; make simple predictions on the text and even
summarise the story.
There are excellent well graded reading books available in
bookshops today.They are structured to help your children
go from simple words and contents to more challenging
texts.
Enroll your child for reading classes to take the burden off
you and widen their horizon. There are many well structured
reading classes and software that aim to draw children
back to books. They help children with diction, idioms and
phrases. For younger children, these classes can be fun
with animated characters and pictures. Illustrated picture
books, rhymes, silly songs and pretend stories all attract
the younger child. Use creativity to capture your child’s
vivid imagination.
Identify and explore your child’s interest. Respect your child’s
genre preferences. If your child has a favorite character,
pick a series of books that feature this character. For your
son, it may be Spiderman, Tror, Captain America, Iron-man
while for a girl, it may be Scarlet Witch, Barbie, Black Widow,
Annabel, Hanna Montana and so on.
It would be a great idea to build a home-library. A skill like
reading cannot be learnt in isolation. Do not leave all the
hard work to the school programme. Pick up books that
you think your child would like. The internet is also a rich
resource of reading games that would attract little children
to reading.
Omoru writes from the UK
Firms Inaugurate Digital
Classroom to Boost Learning
L-R: Mr. Bode Benard Guest, Managing Director Brand Optimal, Mr. Otis Ojeikhoai, and Chairman, Ridos House Montgomery School Mr. Dave
Akharume, during the first Inter-house sports competition of the school, held recently
Anambra Emerges Zonal Winner of NNPC Quiz Contest
Benjamin Nworie in Abakaliki
Anambra State has emerged the overall
zonal winner of the 2015 NNPC National
Quiz Competition held in Abakaliki,
Ebonyi State, and will represent the
zone at the national quiz competition
which will hold in Abuja later in the year.
Anambra pulled a total of 55 points to
defeat other schools from Enugu, Abia, Ebonyi
and Imo States in a keenly contested
quiz contest in English Language, Physic,
Biology, Chemistry and Mathematics.
The breakdown showed that Anambra
got 55 points, Imo 45 points, Ebonyi and
Enugu got 40 points each while Abia got
30 points. Speaking at the end of the
competition, the National Coordinator
of the programme, Mr. Olutago Sanni,
said NNPC is paying attention to the
national quiz competition because “we
see it as an instrument for enhancing
science education in the country.”
He expressed hope that the exercise
would further coach students towards
their promotion and qualifying examinations,
build friendship among them and
enlighten students and the public on
NNPC’s activities.
According to Sanni, the feedback it
received showed that the the objectives
have already been met, adding that
more students on NNPC’s scholarship
are graduating with distinction and
impressive results. The acting Group
General Manager, Group Public Affairs
Division, NNPC, Mr. Mbajiogu Nicholas,
added that apart from the school quiz
NNPC carries out other development
prwogrammes such as provision of
social amenities, infrastructure projects,
scholarships, enlightenment programmes,
reaching out to the needy, employment of
young graduates and experienced hires
into the system.
Ridos House Holds First Inter-house Sports
Ridos House Montessori School, Lagos
recently held its maiden inter-house sports
competition at the LASU Museum Centre
with pomp and excitement.
After a keenly contested competition
among the pupils who were grouped
into four houses, Emerald/Green, Topaz/
Yellow, Coral/Red and Sapphire/Blue,
Topaz House emerged winner with 12
gold, four silver and five bronze medals.
Emerald House came second with nine
gold, 13 silver and six bronze medals,
while Coral House came third with six
gold, 11 silver and seven bronze medals.
The competition featured track events
like 15m, 50m, 75m, 100m and 200m
races, picking the balls, invited school
race, filling the bottle, sack race, relay
race, parents’ race, staff race, march
past, among others. In her remarks,
the Managing Director of the school,
Mrs. Toritseju Akharume, said academics
and sports education complement each
other, adding that physical activity is vital
to the holistic development of young
people, as well as fosters the physical,
social and emotional health. Akharume
said within school, physical education
is an essential component of quality
education, adding, “not only do physical
education programmes promote physical
activity, such programmes also correlate
to improve academic performance under
certain conditions, while sports can also
under the right conditions provide health
alternatives to deviant behavior.
Funmi Ogundare
Robotel Incorporated, Canada, in
partnership with Topteck, recently
inaugurated its Smart Class, a 21st
century digital classroom and
language laboratory management
solution, designed to enhance
teaching and learning in schools.
Speaking at the town hall
meeting with stakeholders in
Lagos, the Executive Director,
Robotel Incorporated, Mr. Yanick
Demers, expressed hope that the
initiative would help fill the gap
where schools are facing challenges.
“We can leverage on the potential
of the technology in order to benefit
schools”, he said, adding that over
the past 30 years, his organisation
has developed computer classroom
laboratories with more than 10,000
systems installed in more than 75
countries around the world and
how ICT had been able to impact
education and empower teachers
with the right tools.
He recalled how he met its
partner, Toptek, represented
by its Managing Director, Mr.
Babatunde Olusanya, saying,
“last year, Olusanya came to see
us in Canada. Over the past 15
years, I received many potential
partners; none of them was as
convincing as him. He came with
a plan, describing the needs of the
education sector in Nigeria, and
how Robotel and Topteck could
work together.
“He obviously described the
many challenges of introducing
new educational technologies
in Nigeria. But he showed me
passionately that he had a clear
vision about the development of
ICT for the education sector.”
In his remarks, Olusanya described
Robotel as an organisation
of integrity, saying that their aim
is to deliver products to schools
and provide students the platform
to work at any time and at their
own pace with the technology.
“We have the opportunity to
increase the level of teaching for
students to practice intensively
and develop their skills in the
language laboratory.
The platform is world acclaimed
and so far institutions
like Adeleke University, Osun
State, Redeemers University, Ede
and Babcock University, Ilisan
Remo, Ogun State have bought
into the idea.”
The Dean, Faculty of Arts,
University of Lagos, Prof. Abayomi
Akinyeye, said since the world
is becoming a global village, the
teaching and learning of languages
has become imperative, adding
that the language laboratory has
become the mean to interact with
a larger classroom digitally.
He congratulated Robotel for
identifying the crucial areas of
intervention in institutions.