Queen’s College Principal Urges Youths to Consider Teaching

Uchechukwu Nnaike

The Principal, Queen’s College Lagos, Dr. Tokunbo Yakubu-Oyinloye has stressed the need for more youths to embrace the teaching profession.

She said the move would redouble efforts geared towards nation-building and accelerated growth.

She said this during a capacity building programme for over 200 teachers of the school recently.

She described the teaching profession as the only one that drives and decides the progress of any nation and teachers impact lives and society.

“I am advocating that the younger ones look more towards the teaching profession. You help to build the nation when you educate a child, especially we that are into girl-child education. When you educate a girl-child, you educate a home and the entire nation,” she stated.

She commended the government for the elongation of teachers’ years of service, saying that in the next five years there would be more people who will now retire at 65 or after 40 years of service.

“There is hardly any career that does not benefit from the teaching profession. As teachers, we do not just concentrate on academics, we also have the opportunity to counsel students, shape their morals for all-round development, give pastoral care which assists in building a total man.”

Yakubu-Oyinloye noted that the college had also taken the issue of constant training and retraining of teachers seriously, as it is only through such initiatives that best practices can be achieved and sustained.

She added that training enables teachers to upgrade, exchange knowledge and ideas, as well as keep abreast of current trends.

According to her, the college has lined up other training for its teachers in the year, including pastoral care for students, record keeping, effective teaching and learning, as well as how to be an effective form teacher.

One of the resource persons, Mrs. Rachael Elujoba, Director, Federal Education Quality Assurance Service, Lagos Office, said constant training and retraining of teachers had been the watchword of the college.

“We expect to see teachers that are caring, full of compassion, and would not want to be coerced to do what they need to do. They should be able to also keep proper records of the students and ensure that they are monitored,” she added.