By Millicent Ifeanyichukwu
A Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), the Regalo Hope Foundation (RHF), has appealed to the Ministry of Education to encourage digitalisation of lesson notes, saying it made teaching and learning easier.
Chinenye Onuorah, the Founder/Project Director, RHF, who made the appeal during a seminar organised for school owners, educators and teachers, said that writing of lesson notes should be abolished and discouraged among teachers.
The theme, “Reshaping the Future of My School and I” was organised on Thursday in Lagos in commemoration of the 2023 World Teachers Day.
According to Onuorah, teachers should embrace modern-day learning process, apply apps and tools, because it was important that educators keep on learning to better themselves so they could continue to impart knowledge.
Onuorah said that the theme of the seminar, “The Teachers We Need for the Education We Want: The Global Imperative to Reverse Teacher Shortage” was in line with the theme of the 2023 World Teachers Day.
She urged educators to cultivate an environment that would foster growth, innovation, and inclusivity in their schools.
“ The programme is designed to empower educators and school proprietors with the requisite knowledge and skills for compassionate and strategic leadership.
“Our collective aim is to usher in a brighter future for educational institutions and this programme will play a crucial role in making this vision a reality.
“This seminar is thoughtfully structured to address critical areas such as inclusion, branding, relationship management, communication, well-being and physical fitness, empathy and emotional intelligence,” the RHF founder said.
Also speaking, Akhere Akran, an Inclusive Education Advocate and Facilitator at the event, gave insight on strategic leadership and emotional intelligence as a measure for inclusive education.
Akran declared that there was still a wide gap between theory and practical, contrary to the aim of the Sustainable Development Goal (SGD) 4, for a life-long learning for all where no child would be left behind.
She noted that not all children could strive or benefit from educational activities, saying: “we can leverage on their strength and opportunities over their weaknesses and traits that might have caused their alienation and exclusion.
“School owners or administrators should begin to inculcate emergency response plan and basic First Aid training.
“This training will be for their teachers to attend to diversity of children in classroom who might possess some form of impairment or disability that need basic medical attention,” she said.
According to the facilitator, it is important that we are aware of diversity of skills, knowledge and intellectual ability of children, which are the three A’s – Awareness, Acceptance and Assistance – that I usually propose.
“If we must achieve the SDG 4, even before 2030, we must begin to re-orientate the mind of educators and administrators who are decision-makers and at the helm of affairs in schools.
“It requires team work and collaborative efforts to get things done appropriately, administrators must apply strategic leadership in guiding activities of their teachers and ensuring everyone has a sense of belonging.
“It is imperative for teachers and administrators to keep an open mind in accepting inclusion. As an educator, you teach from the heart.
“You brainstorm, you solve problems on best ways to integrate the child into mainstream setting, aimed at encouraging the child to strive through Awareness, Acceptance and Assistance (AAA).
“The Awareness will help us Accept and Assist intentionally and equitably, instead of living in denial about the difference, background and peculiarities of children,” Akran stressed.
Also, Adebayo Shodunke, a Revenue Generation Expert, enlightened the participants on strategic plans and measures to be deployed to boost income and revenue generation in schools, outside the traditional tuition fees.
Shodunke said it had become necessary for school owners to cater for the school’s operational needs, considering the inflation and economic situation that was currently facing the country.
“I want you educated on how to diversify your revenue sources in terms of getting grants, calling for donations, materials and facility rental of your school hall during weekends,” he said.
Similarly, Lilian Ikegbune, a Digital Expert and Volunteer, said that there was a need for corporate and personal branding and rebranding in the current technological world.
Ikegbune enjoined the participants to socialise, up-skill and learn trends, especially in the area of technology in education, to open their understanding on how children interacted with technology and how it impacted their learning.
According to the facilitator, teachers must endeavour to up-skill, re-skill and keep learning and also unlearn some certain old learning methods in curriculum that do not fit in the present era.
“Corporate branding is very key for schools, educators should endeavour to brand the image of their schools to create positive impressions and encourage their students to engage in community services.
“Now we have ‘Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer’ for those who have access to android phone to use for their assignment, but teachers and parents must ensure it falls in line with the task,” Ikegbune said.
Meanwhile, Mrs Christy Nosa-Ihaza, a Participant and Proprietress of Super Minds Nursery and Primary School, Igando, described the programme as wonderful and impactful.
Nosa-Ihaza said the programme had broadened her knowledge, adding that she had learnt not to exclude anybody whether able or disabled, rich or poor, celebrity or not, no man should be over-rated or under-rated.
“Also, we can learn from one another, this programme is an opportunity for me to have more space for learning new aspects and how to include everybody in the learning system though I’ve been doing it but not too efficiently.
“But with what I have learnt today, I need to do more with the use of social media. Because that is how the world is today, so you have to be there.
“ We were made to understand the importance of training and retraining of teachers, so that they can learn and unlearn, a lot of teachers have closed minds towards learning.
“ And so from this training, we are going to be open-minded with all learning systems and upgrade our abilities and skills by doing more research work on Google, visiting YouTube and relevant video clips,” She said.
NAN reports that the programme, which had many participants, provided sessions for educators from public and private schools in Lagos.