ENSUBEB HOLDS 5-DAY WORKSHOP ON STRENGTHENING MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE EDUCATION FOR PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN THE STATE

More than six hundred and eight teachers selected from public primary schools across the 17 LGAs of Enugu state are benefiting from a 5-day workshop on Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education (SMASE) cycle 3 training organized by ENSUBEB for teachers in the state.

The training programme, which centered on the Actualization of Activity Students Experimentation and Implementation-Plan, See, Do and Improve (ASEI – PDSI) approach in the classroom by the participants is being held simultaneously in six centers of Ekulu Primary School, Enugu; Hillside Primary School, Enugu; UPS Ohom Orba; UPS Nsukka; Udi Central School, Udi; and Central School Awgu.

The workshop is also aimed at upgrading participants’ teaching skills, exposing/introducing them to the right teaching methods to make teaching real for learners in the classroom, ensuring proper use of familiar teaching materials to improve their lessons through PDSI, and shifting from teachers to a learner-centered teach teaching approach, among others.

Speaking shortly before he declares the workshop open, the Executive Chairman of ENSUBEB, Assoc. Prof. Hyginus Okibe, told the participants that the training is in tandem with the vision of Governor Peter Mbah’s administration to train teachers and carry them along in the scheme of things in the education sector as the state migrates to the Experiential Learning and begin the implementation of Smart Green school Initiative come September this year.

Prof. Okibe reminded them that as drivers of the Smart Green school programme in the state, they should take the workshop seriously and improve their digital literacy, develop their mental capacity/critical thinking, and be equipped with all the needed knowledge and skills to key into the new education system sweeping across the globe and Enugu state in particular.

The Executive Chairman said that the training exercises are like building blocks designed to prepare participants for a brighter future for improved productivity, adding that a good teacher can use many methods to interact, inform, communicate, and transfer information to learners and improve their market value.

He made it clear that the era of assigning a teacher to teach all subjects in a class is over, adding that with the new method of teaching and learning, teachers as a profession will henceforth teach the very subject of his/her area of specialization. According to him, this is to enable the Government to know areas of their inadequacies, where the problem of our learners lies, and who to hold responsible/accountable at the end of the day.

In his speech, the Head of Department, Teachers Professional Development (TPD), Barr. Andrew Nwani, noted that the importance of Mathematics and Science Education can never be overemphasized and appealed to the participants to take the workshop seriously and cascade down what they have learnt to their colleagues in their various schools.

Barr. Nwani urged them to use the knowledge acquired at the workshop and help our learners develop interest/confidence in Science subjects and erase the impression that Mathematics and Sciences are difficult subjects. He noted that the workshop’s success will be measured by their ability to improve from where they were before and where they are now, and also enhancing the teaching and learning of science subjects in our schools.

Also, in their separate speeches, the Desk Officers, Teachers Professional Development (TPD), Mrs. Benedette Ezugwu, and her counterpart in Strengthening Mathematics and Science Education Unit (SMASE) in the Board, Mrs. Carol Okoro, welcomed the participants and advised that they should pay attention to the resource persons and avoid any distraction during the workshop. They reminded the teachers of the need to do the needful in preparing their lesson notes, collection of instructional materials, and master the subject before they go to classes. According to them, they should ask questions, be more practically oriented in their teaching, and carry their learners along.