Over 12, 000 teachers in the Anambra public primary and secondary schools are expected to participate in the e-teaching training organised by the state government.
The training will equip the teachers with the requisite skills to adapt to the emerging challenges in teaching and learning in the post COVID-19 era.
Commissioner for Basic Education, Prof. Kate Omenugha, revealed that COVID-19 had ushered in a ‘new normal’ in the education sector that teaching and learning would never be the same again.
Omenugha said the e-learning would be preceded by a e-conference for teachers and stakeholders in the education sector would lay the bed for post covid-19 education in Anambra.
According to her, the COVID-19 pandemic has placed everyone under “lock and key”, that many economic, activities appear grounded and education is not left out as all schools are closed and our children equally locked down.
“The fact remains that if every of all activities can wait, education cannot wait because allowing education to wait will mean putting all our destinies to a halt and endangering our growth.
“Therefore the onus is on us all to think outside the box, make sacrifices, stretch our imaginations and update ourselves in the various methods of teaching our children to remain relevant during the pandemic.
“We now have a “new normal”- aftermath of COVID-19 pandemic and this “new normal” makes imperative the role of technology in education, even though technology may not replace teachers, teachers who use technology may replace those who do not,” she said.
Omenugha noted with regrets that just no fewer than 128 teachers of the 12,000 teachers in the state participated in the ‘Teaching-on-Air’ programme of the ministry either due to lack of enthusiasm or lack of skill.
She however noted that the radio teaching programme which started about 10 days after the shutdown of schools in March had kept students in the state academically fresh and attracted national and international commendations.
She said Gov. Willie Obiano had approved the purchase and distribution of 3,000 units of transistor radios to education clusters in nine local governments in the state as rural alternative to internet based teaching in the urban areas.
The commissioner said the nine councils include Anambra East, Anambra West, Awka North, Orumba North, Orumba South, Anyamelum, Ogbaru, Ihiala and Nnewi South.
Omenugha commended Anambra teachers who took part in the T4 e-conference of the New-Normal-Post COVID Education saying they had learnt a lot and had deepened appreciation of the role of technology in education.
She said teachers were professionals who should upgrade themselves periodically because no education system develops more than the level of their teachers and urged communities and philanthropists to support the teachers if need be.
“Clearly, we have come to understand that post COVID-19 education must come with blended teaching and learning the use of limited face-to-face teaching and perhaps a high dose of technology-driven teaching, e-teaching and e-learning,” she said.
The commissioner said while the e-conference which would hold early August was free and compulsory for all, the e-teaching training which was in five module was optional but would cost N8, 000 per participant including N2, 000 for certificate.
She said employers and teachers in the private schools were free to enrol in the training if they wished.
“The e- teaching training has five module at N2,000 for each but we negotiated that the entire package should be N6, 000 but every participants who wished to get the certificate will pay N2,000 after the 10-day exercise,” she said.
Mrs Ifeoma Okey-Aroh, Chairman of Post Primary School Service Commission (PPSSC) said teachers stood to gain a lot from the training as it would not only broaden their knowledge but also make them relevant in the future.
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