By Kuni Tyessi
Principals of the 110 Federal Government Colleges, also known as unity schools have called for an upgrade of ICT facilities in the schools as well as more funding to meet the needs of the challenging times.
The Chairperson of the Principals, Dr. Tokunbo Yakubu Oyinloye who made the appeal in Abuja yesterday during the 2020 Annual General Meeting of Principals of Federal Unity Colleges, said this has become imperative in stemming the spread of the COVID 19 virus.
The Annual General Meeting of the Principals of Unity Colleges is an annual event that provides the opportunity to take stock of activities in Federal Unity Colleges and share best practices
She said the theme of the 2020 AGM, “Restructuring Our Educational System to suit our challenging times”, is apt, since it has become imperative in ensuring qualitative instructional delivery so as to maximise student performance in conformity with the societal needs
According to her, “we will all agree that we are in challenging times especially with the advent of COVID-19 which has made a great difference in every aspect of life all over the world.
“This was a wake-up call to many of us that in this 21st Century we would have to adopt and adapt new ideas and new technologies to be able to provide the best education possible to our students.
“This entails that the present system of education should be modified by reforming learning, curriculum and pedagogy, to keep abreast with modern global practices in Education,” she explained.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr. Chuwkwuemeka Nwajuba tasked the Principals to return the unity colleges to centres of excellence.
Nwajiuba reiterated the federal government’s commitment to addressing the challenges facing most of the Federal Unity Colleges across the country.
Speaking on the theme of the AGM, the keynote speaker, Prof. Ekundayo Ocholi of Guidance and Counselling Dept, University of Abuja, challenged the Principals and all teaching staff of the schools to be ICT-compliant.
Ocholi said a restructuring of the educational system to suit the challenges of time would involve a review of pedagogy and retraining of teachers. She added that the schools must restructure for character training.
