To mark 2022 World Teachers’ Day, a foremost education intervention Non-Governmental Organization in Nigeria, Inoyo Toro Foundation, has called for increased recognition of teachers and the teaching profession, as a first step to getting things right in the country’s education sector.
It said the call was in line with the theme assigned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) for the 2022 World Teachers’ Day – ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers’.
In a statement issued in Uyo and signed by the Foundation’s Board Secretary, Dr. George Akpan, the Foundation urged all stakeholders to recognize teachers’ centrality in arresting the rapid decline in Nigeria’s education sector.
It noted that everyone had a role to play in encouraging teachers so they can do more to improve the standard of education, adding that any society that desires a better tomorrow for its people must substantially invest in the education of the people.
The statement recounted the contributions of the Foundation in the last 15 years towards inspiring teachers and teaching excellence particularly across public secondary schools in Akwa Ibom State.
It expressed satisfaction that such contributions had benefitted many teachers in the state, one of whom had gone on to achieve global acclaim.
The Foundation’s latest teacher ambassador, Ephraim Jacob Inyangudo, had recently emerged as first South-Southern Nigerian to win the prestigious Fullbright Teaching Excellence and Advancement Fellowship Award in United States of America.
Reflecting on the lyrics of a music piece “Teye ke ateacher akukpep” by a celebrated maestro, Dr. Uko Akpan, the statement reminded everyone who could read and write to remember they were helped by teachers and urged them to demonstrate gratitude by saying “Thank You” to a teacher on Teachers’ Day.
Inoyo Toro Foundation is one of Nigeria’s first education-focused NGOs which has so far spent over half a billion naira to reward over 256 teachers, train over 3500 teachers and four principals, mentor over 5280 students and positively impact over 90 schools in Akwa Ibom State.
The Foundation’s 15th anniversary and teachers’ excellence award ceremony is slated to hold on Friday, November 4, at Ibom E-Library, Uyo.
