The Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission, Hamid Bobboyi, has disclosed that over 30 per cent of the Nigeria’s teaching workforce left the service within the past three years.

Bobboyi made this known during a six-day training workshop organised by the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board, in collaboration with UBEC, for 30 School Support Officers on SMASE and Jolly Phonics in Kano on Thursday.

Bobboyi, who described the situation as frightening, said some teachers retired while others left the service searching for greener pastures without being replaced. He also emphasised the need for welfare for teachers, whom he said are critical to the development of future leaders and the country as a whole.

The ongoing East African Community (EAC) conference on education, held in light of the African Union's designation of 2024 as the Year of Education, has spotlighted the persistent challenges in the region's education sector.

The conference, themed "Educate an African Fit for the 21st Century: Collective Action for Quality, Inclusive, and Life-long Learning in East Africa," aims to assess the progress and difficulties facing member states in aligning with the continent's educational agenda.

The gathering follows the Africa Human Capital Heads of State Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, where regional leaders, including Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan, endorsed the Dar es Salaam Human Capital Declaration.

An educational technology firm, EDATECH is committed to revolutionising education in Sub-Saharan Africa by providing personalised learning for experiences for students.

In a statement, the firm’s founder, Sylvester Juwe was quoted as saying that with cutting edge technological advancement, it aims to provide personalized learning for students, akin to having a personal tutor in their pocket.

By harnessing cutting edge technological advancement, EDATECH aims to provide personalized learning experiences for students, akin to having a personal tutor in their pocket. This commitment to social impact is as much a part of Juwe’s identity as his athletic aspirations.

Stakeholders in the educational sector have been engaged on how to actively engage in initiatives designed to foster inclusivity and participation in education. At a workshop for teachers, participants were urged to keenly promote gender equality in the education sector by encouraging women to teach and learn.

The event saw the participation of 984 teachers from the Eastern and Central regions. The programme was a collaborative effort between the Institute of Teacher Education and Development (INTED) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Ghana, along with various agencies of the Ministry of Education.

The Board Chair of Transforming Teaching, Education and Learning (T-TEL), Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, addressed contemporary gaps in teacher professional learning and growth in Ghana. Prof. Anamuah-Mensah also emphasised the necessity for teachers to be aware of the cultural differences among their students.

Parents have been urged to support the educational and emotional development of children with special needs. The appeal was made at the 41st Annual Conference of Heads of Special Schools (COHESS) of the Special Education Division (SED) of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in Accra.

The Director of the Special Education Division of the GES, Helena Mensah, said research had shown that active parental involvement in a child’s education led to improved academic performance. For learners with special needs, she said parents’ involvement helped to bridge the gap between school and home, offering a more cohesive and supportive learning experience.

She said parents possessed an intimate knowledge of their children's strengths, challenges and unique needs, which were invaluable in developing tailored education plans, adding that ”by collaborating with educators, parents ensure that their children receive the specific support they need”.

Ten out of the 16 regions have fully been supplied with laptops under the government’s One Teacher-One Laptop programme. According to the data, less than one percent are expected to receive through a nationwide mop-up exercise currently ongoing and expected to end in August 2024.

This means, almost 300,000 teachers, representing all category of teachers including those in senior high schools (SHS), junior high schools (JHS), primary, kindergarten, teachers on study leave as well as qualified non-teaching staff of the Ghana Education Service have received their laptops nationwide, according to latest data, released by K.A. Technologies, local manufacturers of the laptops.

For the remaining six regions, even though some categories of beneficiaries have received their consignments, a mop-up exercise is currently underway to ensure no qualified teacher is denied the laptop.

United Nations International Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and six southwestern States have forged a strong partnerships to tackle the menace of the out of school in the region.

UNICEF and the State Governments made the commitment in Ibadan, Oyo state capital during a two-day regional stakeholders’ meeting on Out-of-School Children and Retention, Transition and Completion Model for Ekiti, Ondo, Lagos, Osun, Oyo and Ogun States.

Speaking at the event, UNICEF Chief of Lagos Field Office, Mohammed Okorie, said that the stakeholders meeting was borne out of the agency’s commitment to ensure children have free access to quality education.

The National Universities Commission has said Open Distance Learning is cost-effective and suitable for all educational contexts.

A statement made available to The PUNCH by Miva Open University said it held a public lecture that analysed the transformative power of Open Distance Learning in Nigeria at the National Universities Commission Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.

An address by the Acting Executive Secretary of the NUC, Chris Maiyaki, titled, ‘The Changing Role of University Administration in an Open Distance Learning Setting,’ painted a compelling picture of the opportunities available in the digital age.

As part of efforts to build a mass of responsible researchers across universities in Nigeria, the Centre for Bioethics and Research, Nigeria has trained the research community at Bells University of Technology, Ota, Ogun State on Responsible Conduct of Research.

In a statement sent to PUNCH, the onsite training was a key component of the National Institutes of Health-sponsored Scaling Up Research Ethics and Research Integrity Project.

The SURER Project is a multi-institutional collaboration aiming to develop training programs for Responsible Conduct of Research, Research and Scientific Integrity, Conflicts of Interest, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and a Safe Working and Sexual Harassment-Free Environment for researchers in Nigeria.

The Federal Government has been urged to increase budgetary allocation on education to ensure illiteracy is completely wiped out in the society.

Speaking at the Skytop College’s 17th graduation and prize giving day ceremony, penultimate Tuesday, the Founder, Barrister Kunle Muniru, said the Federal Government should give education the priority it deserved in order to comply with the United Nations Sustainable Goals.

Muniru noted that the large numbers of students who would receive prizes at the was a clear testimony that the year had been the best for the college in terms of academic and cultural achievements.

The First Lady, Senator Oluremi Tinubu, has stressed the imperative to use education to shape attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours from an early age in Nigeria and Africa. She said, that given the role of early education, it should be treated with the utmost importance.

The First Lady, who joined other African First Ladies under the auspices of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development, OAFLAD, in Angola to launch the #WeAreEqual campaign, noted that education remains a critical component of any progressive society, thereby calling for the inclusion of activities to help dismantle notions of gender-specific roles in teaching.

“When gender equity becomes an integral part of our educational system, there will be a shift in societal attitudes whereby boys and men learn to respect and value women and girls as equals, reducing the likelihood of engaging in violent behaviour.”

A Facebook group, the Nigerian Teachers Community, has expressed concern over the recruitment of unqualified teachers by unregistered private schools across Nigeria, saying it poses a serious danger.

The leader of the forum, Dr Peter Ogudoro, made this known at a workshop titled “Transformational Leadership in the Education Sector” in Lagos on Saturday. The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the NTC is the largest online community of teachers in the world, with over 700,000 members from more than 100 countries.

NAN reports that the workshop was organised by the Nigerian Teachers Community’s global partners, who are interested in helping Nigeria overcome its development challenges through a truly functional education system.