25th October, 2016
The Centre for Learning and Educational Development Advocacy Africa (CLEDA Africa), says it has commenced a tour of 1,000 schools in 20 African countries to motivate teachers and inspire students on academic excellence.
Mr Daniels Akpan, its Executive Director, said in Kaduna on Tuesday that the 20 countries were selected for their challenges in delivering quality education.
Akpan said that the tour which was launched on June 22, hoped to reach out to 12,000 students and 15, 000 teachers in 1,000 primary and secondary schools in the selected countries.
He said that the selected countries included Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, Gambia, Zambia, Senegal, Malawi, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso, Kenya, Liberia, Tanzania and Mali.
Others are Uganda, Egypt, Namibia, Niger Republic, Sierra Leon and Cote ‘d’ivoire.
“We have realised for example in Nigeria that 68 per cent of teachers in primary and secondary schools are accidental teachers with no teaching training, as such lack the techniques, motivation and capacity to deliver quality teaching.
“So, we come up with a teacher training programme to motivate and empower the teachers to deliver quality teaching to their students.
“This is because the quality of teachers reflects the quality of a nations’ education; the society is the product of a teacher and a student cannot be better than his or her teacher, ” he said.
Akpan also said that most students were burdened with socio-economic challenges in their homes and communities which invariably affected their learning abilities.
He equally said that quite a number of students were going to school without a clear direction of what they want to be in future and how to go about it.
“So, we have designed a career counseling package to counsel the students based on their passion, abilities, potentials and ambition, to check against peer group influence and aimless fruitless journey.
“CLEDA Africa believes that the development of any nation depends largely on the quality of its education and the graduates it produces.
“Therefore, the tour is designed to empower and motivate teachers through training on quality service delivery and inspire the students to aspire for academic excellence and personal development.”
The director explained that CLEDA Africa had so far reached out to 1,370 students and 220 teachers in 15 schools in Nigeria from the commencement of the tour to date.
“We have also reached out to 210 students in four schools in Ghana, 80 students in two schools in Zimbabwe, 64 students in three schools in Ethiopia and 10 schools in Zambia.
“Similarly, we have reached out to 10 schools in Gambia, 120 students in Senegal and concluded plans to train teachers in Cameroon in partnership with Centre for Entrepreneurship, Management and Business Development.”
He called on relevant stakeholders to partner with CLEDA Africa in helping young children to exploit their full potentials through improved access to quality education.