By Roland Edwards
The Technology for Transformative Development Foundation has urged the Ebonyi government to develop an education strategy to enhance the sector in the state.
Mr Ewa Eleri, Executive Director of the Foundation, made the comment in Abakaliki during its policy briefing on improving the quality of primary education in Ebonyi.
Eleri said that such strategy would evolve a road-map involving critical stakeholders for the enhancement of the sector in the state.
“We have presented a baseline assessment of primary schools with the support of the United States International Agency for Development (USAID).
“This assessment is also in partnership with the state’s Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB),”.
Eleri noted that the assessment identified inadequacy of teachers in primary schools and their inequitable posting to schools.
“We discovered challenges of effective supervision of teachers in schools and inadequate provision of learning materials.”
The Executive Director commended the state government’s commitment towards addressing the challenges and sought the cooperation of the traditional institution for their attainment in rural areas.
Chief Kingsley Ikoro, Deputy Speaker of the Ebonyi House of Assembly, who also spoke on the occasion, urged relevant authorities to ensure strict enforcement of teachers’ postings to ensure adequate teaching in schools.
“It is wrong for teachers to be posted to areas where their services are needed and they lobby to return to where they were posted from.
“Teachers should be effectively supervised to check truancy and ensure they deliver quality teachings”.
Dr Emmanuel Obasi, the Principal Secretary to the Ebonyi Governor said that the state government had deployed adequate resources to enhance teaching and learning in its schools.
“Statistics have shown that the state has equitable distribution of teachers to schools which will be sustained,”.
Mr Francis Egwu, Chairman of the Nigerian Union of Teachers in the state urged relevant stakeholders to prevail on the government to enhance teachers’ welfare.
The event was attended by traditional rulers, the Clergy and Non – Governmental Organisations among others.
