Prof Okey Abonyi, the Director, Center for Education Services (CES) Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike, Ebonyi State (AE-FUNAI)says no reform in education will succeed without adequate attention to teachers’ welfare and training.
Abonyi said this in Nsukka on Wednesday in a keynote speech during the 9th hybrid International conference of Association for Economics Educators (IAEE).
With the theme “Reimagining education for inclusive human capital development, socioeconomic transformation and sustainable future, in a digital and global world
The director said, if Nigeria wants to succeed in education reform that will ensure sustainability, teachers welfare and training should be a priority.
“The bane of education reforms in this country is that teachers who are major stakeholders are not taking into consideration because the country has no regard for teachers.
“No education reform will succeed in any country without adequate attention to teachers welfare, training and re-training..
” While government should ensure strong education foundation through adequate funding of schools for our children right from pre-nursery school to higher institutions,”he said.
He expressed concern that some people today carry certificates that they can not defend and do not reflect their skills and competences because attention is on acquiring of certificates not quality education.
The director advocated that lecturers and professors should be paid according to their impact and yield in their universities.
“I have a friend in United States of America who told me that professors are not treated equally in his university, your payment as a professor determines your impact and yield to the university.
“Untill we stop giving attention to certificates but focus on what certificates can yield, it will be difficult to achieve quality and sustainable education in Nigeria .
” I thank IAEE for finding me worthy to present keynote speech in this conference” he said.
Speaking Assoc.Prof Augustine Azi, Head of Department, Social Sciece Education, University of Jos, Plateau State who was the Lead Paper Presenter, said to break gap digital literacy has created, education must be accessible , affordable and available.
“To break digital gap, electricity must be available both in urban and rural areas 24 hours to help people embrace digital education.
” We must update the present school curriculum in the country that is not practical and skills driven as well as ensure regular training and retraining of teachers,”he said.
According to Azi, education remains the most powerful tool for socioeconomic transformation and sustainable development in the present digital age.
The Associate Professor urged Nigerians to embrace digital technology in order to improve the country’s economy, disclosing that Singapore as a country in 2024 generated 128 million dollars from ICT alone which is about 169 trillion naria in Nigeria.
He commended the National President of IAEE Prof Joseph Onuoha and his team for sustaining the conference to its 9th edition in spite of hard economic situation in the country.
In a remark, Prof. Uchenna Eze, the Dean Faculty of Education UNN who chaired the conference, said the faculty was delighted in hosting the conference in UNN.
He noted that huge presence of scholars and economics educators in the country participating in the conference showed the level of importance attached to the conference as well as impact of IAEE to the society.
“The theme of this conference is timely and significant, but there is need for educators to rethink on what they teach, how they teach it in this technological driven age.
“It’s undisputable that economics educators play important role in equipping learners with required knowledge, ability to learn, financial understanding as well as skills to compete globally.
“I commend the association of educators for sustaining this conference since the association was established as well as impacting positively to universities in the country as well as to the globe.
Earlier in a remark, Prof Joseph Onuoha, the National President of IAEE and the Head of Department Social Science Education in UNN, disclosed that the association was established in 2017 with staff from UNN and students who were mainly postgraduates.
“This is the 9th hybrid conference of the association, the first in 2017 was held in UNN.
“University of Jos, University of Nasarawa, University of Calabar among others have hosted this conference.
” I welcome economics educators from different universities in the country as well as states chairpersons of IAEE present in this conference.,” he said.
The National president expressed immense appreciation to the Dean, Faculty of Education for approving the hosting of the conference
Onuoha promised that the association would continue on its objective of promoting high-quality economics education through global community building, conferences, seminars, workshops and publications.
The National president expressed appreciation to local organising committee and all who contributed in one way or the other to make the conference a success.
Our correspondent reports that, some persons who have contributed immensely to the growth of the association were honoured with award as a sign of recognition and appreciation by IAEE.