Josemaria Escriva Foundation, TY Danjuma Foundation, Appraise Teachers' Skills Enhancement Training Project in Esan Central, Esan West LGAs

 Josemaria Escriva Foundation, TY Danjuma Foundation, Appraise Teachers' Skills Enhancement Training Project in Esan Central, Esan West LGAs

By: Oriaifoh Godwins

A Nigeria based Non-Governmental Organisation, Josemaria Escriva (JOSEF), with the thematic foci on Education, Health, and Policy Advocacy, on Friday, 28th July 2023, organized a meeting with the beneficiaries of the Teachers' Skills Enhancement Projects (TSEP) for selected teachers in public primary schools in Esan West and Esan Central  Local Government Areas of Edo state to appraise the effectiveness of their training and also share their success stories. 

The TSEP project is a five-year project funded by TY Danjuma Foundation to train 60 teachers on an annual basis. The Project has trained teachers in the said schools in a range of critical areas including Classroom, time and stress management, uses of computer as a powerful tool in learning, especially the use of the Teachers’ Computer, Communication and Interpersonal skills amongst others with the aim of devising a pragmatic solution to ease their delivery methods in the classrooms.

Speaking at the review meeting, Comrade Jude Obasanmi PhD, the Chief Responsibility Officer of JOSEF, said; “…the teachers computers, TC, has not come to replace the teachers, as the Computer Assisted Instructions, CAI, and the Computer Managed Instructions, CMI, are only meant to compliment the effort of the teachers…” Obasanmi charged the participants to appraise the various trainings and interventions they have had so far with a view to making the Project more impactful and result oriented. 

On his part, Mr. Tersoo Akula, the TY Danjuma Education Officer from Abuja Office said: '… the funds given out by T.Y Danjuma Foundation, is seen as grants to the benefactor, however, it is actually an investment and the returns they expect on their investment, are the effectiveness, practicability and impact of the trainings on the teachers and the pupils'. 

Continuing, Mr. Akula said; '...the review meeting is part of the Foundation's activities, it is not out to witch-hunt anyone but meant at improving the delivery of teachers so as to ensure that the learners are able to maximally  benefit from the exercise and also to identfy other areas that might require more advocacies or interventions. He commended the Edo State Universal Basic Education (Edo State SUBEB) for approving the intervention and promised to continue to partner with NGOs in Edo State...'

Ms. Oluwatoyin  Ajayi,  the Edo State Coordinator for T.Y Danjuma in her remarks enjoined the participants to share their experiences and also identify areas where JOSEF will need to sustain or review. She said; '...the outcomes from the meeting will no doubt, infleunce subsequent activities...' Ms. Ajayi commended the Education Secretaries of the two Local Government Areas and also the Learning and Development Officers who have demonstrated great commitment in the project activities. 

In the meeting, the teachers identified other competencies they learnt from the training to include stress and time management, competences in the use of the Teachers' Computer, TC, saying hitherto, that some teachers were more or less indifferent in their use of TC. 

Some teachers also pointed out that, improvisations whereby teachers were taught how to use practical and tangible things that the children are familiar with in delivering their lessons, etc was learnt in the course of the trainings. The teachers while thanking Edo SuBEB for the opportunity, however, suggested to TYDF and JOSEF that subsequently, more teachers should be involved in the training, adding that, the benefits they derived from the training, is enormous. The teachers also shared some challenges that will be addressed as the project progresses.

Some of the success stories is the fact that they are now more equipped to manage their time and stressors; they are now able to put the TC into better use, they now see it as a good device that aids teaching and most importantly, they are able to surf the internet for additional learning materials and  other things that are beneficial to them personally. The participants unanimously agreed that the content of the training was timely, saying; '...it came at a time when teachers continue to long for better ways of improvising their teaching skills in the midst of very challenging socioeconomic situation in Nigeria.

In his remarks, one of the facilitators at the review meeting Dr. Paul Ebhomien commended TYDF, JOSEF and SUBEB for the intervention which was very strategic and hope that the teachers will put the knowledge and skills gained into proper use to enhance their skills and content delivery.

Those that benefited from the 'Training of Trainers' programme, included the Learning and Development Officers, LDO, Quality Assurance Officers, QAO, Head of Schools Support Services and a couple of selected teachers, all of whom were charged to in turn train teachers in their respective schools on the training they received.