The Plateau Commissioner for Education(Secondary), Mrs Elizabeth Wapmuk, has urged parents and teachers in the state to be interested in both educational and moral upbringing of their children and wards.
Wapmuk said this would help in curbing the challenges of drug abuse, drunkenness, rape, kidnapping and other social vices bedeviling the society.
She made the call at the maiden edition of the Governor’s Teachers and School Excellence Awards, organised to mark the World Teachers Day celebration with the theme:“Teachers at the Heart of Education Recovery”on Monday in Jos.
“I wish to call on teachers and parents to be interested in both the educational and moral upbringing of their children and wards, to curb the challenges of drug abuse, drunkenness, rape, kidnapping and other social vices bedeviling the society,” she said .
She said that parents and the environment in which a child grew had a critical role in developing and moulding them with good attributes into adulthood, and therefore, urged them not to relent in their efforts of impacting knowledge to the children.
The commissioner said the use of instructional materials such as lesson notes, black boards had become digital, and that the teacher, therefore, must thrive hard to meet the demands and realities of the era in order to address the educational and personality needs of the children.
She said educating the girl child and children with disabilities was part of the major challenges confronting teachers in the state, saying, the collective responsibility of parents and all stakeholders was required in addressing the situation .
She thanked Gov. Lalong for constructing and renovating primary and secondary schools across the state through his ‘Lalong Legacy Projects’, which she said had created conducive environment for learning and teaching .
Wapmuk also said that the training of teachers had improved the performance of the state in the various Junior and Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations.
She said a teacher from Plateau Mr John Jobdi, was among the recipients of an award by President Buhari holding in Abuja on October 5th, for emerging one of the best teachers in the country .
In his remarks at the event,Gov. Lalong said his administration was committed to revamping the education sector in the state , disclosing that 2000 teachers were employed in the last recruitment exercise.
Lalong said Plateau in collaboration with the World Bank Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Environment Project (AGILE) programme would recruit about 1,000 academic and 1,000 non-academic staff in the state.
He said the state had injected the use of Information Communication Technology in enhancing learning and teaching,while urging the teachers to redouble their efforts and also adhere to all the COVID-19 protocols for their safety and that of the school children .
He also said that his administration had awarded scholarship to Plateau indigenes, who emerged best in the state and the country at the senior secondary school certificate examinations over the years.
The governor said his administration would continue to ensure that all salaries and allowances of teachers were regularly paid, adding that the payment of pensions of all retired teachers would also be sustained, and the issues of their gratuity addressed.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that three categories of award were given to the best Public and Private schools teachers and for outstanding administrator.
The recipient of the best administrator award, Mrs. Martha Dalap, who is the Principal of Government Secondary School, Anglo Jos, thanked the governor for the award, saying the gesture would spur them to do better in discharging their duties .(NAN).
