By Oluyinka Fadare
Dr Peter Ogudoro, 2021 Facebook Community Accelerator Award Winner, says functional education delivered by highly-motivated teachers should be considered Africa’s route out of poverty.
Ogudoro made the assertion while addressing Kenyan teachers who hosted him recently at the Hilton Hotel, Nairobi, under the auspices of Teachers Notice Board, Kenya, according to a statement he issued on Friday in Lagos.
Ogudoro said that Facebook was supporting Nigerian teachers’ community of over 300,000 members, which he was leading, to promote learner-centred teaching.
“Learner-centred teaching holds the key to global competitiveness for Nigeria.
“Members of the Nigerian teachers’ online community are currently being assisted by Facebook to acquire cutting-edge skills in teaching and school promotion to enable them to earn the income they deserve and attract huge foreign exchange.
“These will help improve their welfare and promote the economic wellbeing and reputation of Nigeria,’’ he said.
The educationist disclosed that Facebook had commissioned him to produce a handbook for teachers, which would become a reference material that would prescribe international best practices in teaching and learning.
He added that the handbook would help 85 million teachers in the world to serve well the over one and half billion children and youths in the world’s school system.
On teachers’ conditions of service, he encouraged public and private school owners to pay teachers well and invest enormously in their development.
Ogudoro said that investment in Nigerian teachers would make them to be globally competitive and promote national development.
“Several other opportunities are being sponsored by Facebook to help the country to use high quality education to accelerate the nation’s development.
“One of such projects is an international teachers’ conference which will hold in Lagos on April 11 and April 12.
“Heads of regional and federal education agencies in Nigeria such as West African Examinations Council, National Universities Commission and Universal Basic Education Commission, will attend the event.
“This event is to help school owners and teachers to understand new education policy directions so they can perform their roles more effectively,’’ he said.
He said that he founded the Nigerian teachers Facebook community in 2016 as a platform for teachers to share free resources for quality teaching and networking in pursuit of enhanced career prospects.
According to him, the community now has over 300,000 members and has become the largest gathering of teachers in Nigeria.
He also noted that Teachers Notice Board, Kenya, had a community of over 400,000 members.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ogudoro is an alumnus of the University of Reading in the United Kingdom, where he earned a PhD in Education and received a special training in education leadership, career management and development communication.
(NAN)
