The Enugu State Government is committed to reviving and invigorating the teaching and learning of agricultural science in public primary schools to make it more practical-oriented and useful to the learners.
The Executive Chairman of Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, Assoc. Prof. Hyginus Banko Okibe disclosed this at the opening ceremony of a one-day Agricultural Education Training Programme (AETP) for Agric Teachers and Social Mobilization Officers (SMOs) from schools across 17 Local Government Areas of the state.
Prof. Okibe, who was represented at the Training Programme by the Head of Department, Teachers' Professional Development in the Board, Barr Andrew Nwani, said that the training became very necessary because teaching/learning of agriculture in our schools has been reduced to theory instead of practical.
The Chairman stated that the objective of the training is to return agriculture to its pride of glory, to make it more practically oriented at the basic education levels, provide learners with requisite skills to stimulate self-employment, and expose them to the biological processes of the subject.
Others include equipping learners with functional entrepreneurship knowledge and life-long skills, and promoting the dignity of labour and self-esteem among the children for their own well-being and the betterment of society.
He reminded the participants that they were assembled to equip them with all it takes to cascade what they learnt to their learners and as champions of this initiative, in the driver's seat, they should endeavour to drive the process of AETP in the state to a fruitful conclusion. According to the Chairman, “they must be ready to champion the ideals of the farm to school initiative, which seeks to connect schools to farms with the view to introducing students to experiential learning and entrepreneurship and giving support to our local farmers.
In her speech, the Head of the Department of Social Mobilization in the Board, Mrs. Josephine Ego Eze, welcomed all the participants and urged them to take all the training programme very seriously, pay attention to the Resource Persons, and avoid any distractions. Mrs. Ego Eze told them that they were lucky as Agric Teachers to be selected for the training and appealed to them to see it as an opportunity to enrich their knowledge in both fish and crop production and do the needful to implement the programme with dedication in their different local communities and environs.
She noted that the gains/successes of the training programme will be determined by the way they were able to implement it, especially by reviving their school garden/farms as it used to be in those old good days, adding that they will be supplied with farm implements/agric equipment to aid their operation.
Also, the Desk Officer School Based Management Committee in the Board, Mrs. Cecilia Owo-Onu, in a remark, advised participants, especially Social Mobilization Officers at the training, to be more proactive in monitoring and mentoring Agric Teachers in their various localities for effective implementation of the programme.
Mrs. Owo-Onu also urged them to work with SBMC members in the various schools/communities to provide adequate security for the farm implements/agric equipment against vandals and ensure their repairs/maintenance.
About 60 Agric Teachers, including 10 SMART Green School Teachers and SMOs drawn from the 17 local government areas of the state, attended the One-day training programme.
Two Resource Persons, Dr. Nelson Ossai and Mr. Chukwuebuka Eze from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, delivered lectures on fish farming and crop farming.
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