17th February, 2020
President of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA), Amb. Tijani Muhammad-Bande, on Monday in New York, decried the engagement of untrained teachers in many schools around the world.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, Muhammad-Bande, who spoke at the opening session of the 2020 Annual Parliamentary Hearing at the UN Headquarters, described the trend as worrisome and called for investment in teacher training.
Muhammad-Bande said the use of unqualified teachers in schools is a threat to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, which borders on quality education.
“We must invest in teacher training in order to provide students with the highest quality education.
“The current trend of having untrained teachers in many schools is worrying. I call on all Member States to provide quality training for trainee teachers,’’ he said.
The event is tagged “Education as a Key to Peace and Sustainable Development: Toward the Implementation of SDG 4’’.
The programme is at the instance of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an organisation of lawmakers from 178 countries that aims to promote democracy and inter-parliamentary dialogue.
He said that the SDG4 was one of his key priorities, adding that it must be approached as a “stand-alone and cross-cutting goal to ensure a peaceful and prosperous world for all’’.