Gov. Dapo Abiodun of Ogun, on Monday, announced the donation of a two-bedroom bungalow to Mr Odegbola Ayodele, a Junior Secondary School (JSS) teacher in Abeokuta Grammar School.
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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the house, located at the state-owned Princes Court, Abeokuta, was given to Ayodele for emerging as the overall best teacher in the state.
Abiodun announced this while addressing executive members of the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Academic Staff Union Secondary Schools (ASUSS) and the All-Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), in Abeokuta.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the meeting, held at the Governor’s Office, Oke-Mosan, Abeokuta, was part of activities marking this year’s World Teachers Day.
Aside Ayodele, Mr Adewale Abayomi from Odua Comprehensive High School, Imoru, Ijebu-Ode, who was the best teacher in the senior secondary school category, was given the sum of N2.5 million by the governor.
Abiodun also gave Mrs Mary Adeyemi from St. Paul’s School II, Sagamu, who emerged as the best primary school teacher, the sum of N2 million.
He said that the state government had formally instituted a yearly best teachers’ awards scheme in different categories to appreciate outstanding teachers in the state and those who had distinguished themselves in the course of carrying out their duties.
The governor said to encourage teachers for efficient service delivery, it was imperative to celebrate those who had shown creativity, dedication and hard work in the course of imparting knowledge to younger ones.
“We will continue to celebrate innovation. We will encourage consistency. Our administration will continue to make the welfare of our teachers our priority. Our teachers’ reward will not be in heaven, but here on earth,” he stated.
The governor called on parents to be more involved in caring for their children instead of shifting the responsibility to teachers, as the development process of a child would not be complete without their involvement.
He said that the commemoration of the day remained significant, as it drew attention to the noble role of the teaching profession in nation-building, in line with a standard-setting instrument that addressed the status and situations of teachers around the world.
The governor noted that this year’s Day would identify the challenges being faced by teachers in the practice of their profession, especially at the period of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
He added that the event was to appreciate teachers and also assess their importance as educators of the world so as to improve on their service to humanity.
Abiodun described teachers as partners in building the state, saying that his administration would continue to appreciate them for their individual and collective roles in creating new learning environment for the children of the state.
“The process for the recruitment of 1,655 graduate-teachers to fill some of the existing vacancies in public secondary schools is at an advanced stage.
“Also approval for career elongation of primary school teachers to Grade Level 15 has been approved, while Principals-General and Headmasters-General from the four geo-political zones of our dear state have been appointed and sworn into office,” he said.
In his remarks, the Chairman of NUT in the state, Mr Titilope Adebajo, who described teachers as risk takers and mind moulders, called for the introduction of education trust fund to enable government address many challenges facing the sector.
One of the awardees, Ayodele, told NAN that his emergence as the overall best teacher in the state was due to hard work.
He called on other teachers to be committed and remain steadfast in the discharge of their duties.