RECENTLY, in fulfillment of its promise to enhance the teaching and learning processes in primary schools, the Ondo State Government distributed employment letters to one thousand teachers.
IN the conclusion to a process that started last year, the government through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) distributed the letters, with the Permanent Secretary of SUBEB, Mr. Ogundele Kayode, saying approval for the exercise was given last year.
ACCORDING to Ogundele, the state had been building schools and providing instructional materials to pupils, but the government considered it extremely important to recruit the teachers.
OUT of 40,000 candidates who applied for the teaching positions, 12,000 who had teaching qualifications were shortlisted.
TO ensure merit characterized the selection process, the shortlisted candidates wrote a qualifying examination, with one thousand of them coming out successful.
THE HOPE commends the state government for this initiative, because it is the first time in 13 years that teachers will be recruited into the primary education sector in this part of the world, as the Dr. Olusegun Agagu administration carried out the last of the crucial exercise 13 years ago.
NEEDLESS to say that the world recognizes education and moral standing as essential tools for building leaders of tomorrow, so with the employment of these teachers, a new generation of Ondo State pupils will be acquainted with new skills and the right knowledge.
WITH moral and educational tools, the characters of these pupils will enable them to participate effectively in the development of the state, which has been affected by such vicissitudes as COVID-19 and climate change.
MUCH more than this, the newly recruited 1000 teachers will refocus the young pupils with modern technology and artificial intelligence in order to be globally competitive and innovative.
IN the past few years, numerous teachers have either resigned or retired from service with no recruitment carried out to replace them, but following the current move by the state government, the problem will become a thing of the past.
THOUGH the issue has been glossed over by the past administrations, the fact remains that schools in rural areas suffer from the challenge of shortage of teachers, but with the appearance of the new recruits in the sector, the issue will be tackled with dispatch, as the recruits can be drafted into the problem areas.
IN as much as societies grow through the development of new thinking and technologies, so does the educational sector, and employing new teachers attuned to the technological changes of today is good development.
THEREFORE, The Hope endorses in entirety the recruitment of the teachers in a transparent process devoid of the controversy that followed such exercises in other parts of the country.
WE suggest that SUBEB should carry out a proper and proportional deployment of the recruits to schools where they are needed, taking into consideration the fact that rural areas face a yawning gap in the number of teachers required to teach in their schools.
SUBEB should also conduct a one-week training and orientation exercise for the new teachers, so that they can be acquainted with modern day teaching methods and the qualities the teeming population of the state expects from them.
THROUGH the exercise, SUBEB should fine-tune and upgrade the skills of the recruits in the field of Information Communication Technology (ICT) and child management, as these are indispensable skills needed in today’s education sector.
BUT the government should not rest on its oars, as it should look into the possibility of employing teachers into state’s secondary and technical schools, which face shortage of teachers.
AS for the new teachers, they should consider their appointments as a call to duty, a honour and privilege for having been found worthy among thousands of others who initially applied for the jobs.