13th November, 2021
By Stephen Adeleye
Kogi government has warned teachers that involvement in examination malpractices will now be treated as a criminal offense in the state.
Kogi’s Commissioner for Education, Science and technology Mr Wemi Jones, gave the warning at a two-day capacity building training for teachers on Saturday in Lokoja.
He therefore warned teachers against involvement in any form of examination malpractices.
He explained that the training was aimed at ”Promoting Teaching Excellence and Achievement in Nigeria (ProTEAN), organised by U.S. Embassy Abuja in Collaboration with Tea Exchange Programme Alumni, Nigeria.
”Let me advise that it has become a criminal offence for any teacher or any school to be engaged or involved in any form of examination malpractices.
”Let us know where we are as a state, do not aid, abate or involve in examination malpractice in your schools.
“Examination malpractice is prohibited for us in Kogi.
”As teachers, principals or whoever, we are getting to a point where anybody who is caught in examination malpractice would severely face the law.
”Please, do not because of little pecuniary gains, get yourselves involved in examination malpractice because it is a crime and the state would not condone it”.
He, however, congratulated the teachers for what they had been able to achieve within one year of his assumption of office as education commissioner.
Jones further thanked the teachers for keying into the implementation of the Kogi State Education Law 2020, emphasising that every section of the law would be fully implemented.
He assured them of governor Yahaya Bello had made the welfare of the teachers a priority in the 2022 budget.
He also commended the governor for taking education as his primary area of focus as far as the new direction of the government was concerned.
He restated the commitment of the state government to promote educational development by focusing more attention on Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
In her remarks at the occasion, Hajia Khadijat Isa, the Programme’s Focal Person in Kogi, said that the programme was one of the U.S.Embassy programmes usually carried out around the states in the country as a way of strengthening the bilateral relationship between U.S. and Nigeria.
According to her, one of the core roles they played in the country is in education, which remains the bedrock for any development in the country.
“This time around the U.S. Embassy intends to empower teachers in Kogi through training on teaching excellence.
“Such as the use of technology, curriculum development and lesson planning, among others.
“They have sent consultants from U.S. Embassy Abuja to come and train the teachers in Kogi”, she said.
She noted that 17 states had so far benefitted from the training programme in Nigeria.
“We are targeting 25 teachers in Lokoja, the state capital, for the two days training which they would cascade to other teachers in their respective schools.
“They would be well informed about the latest techniques in the teaching line and be redefined in their concepts, opinions and perceptions about the teaching profession,” she said.
A participant, Mrs Mary Ojuma from Crowther Memorial College, Lokoja, said that the training was an eye opener in spite of their experience and knowledge in the teaching profession.
”The training has taught us a new approach that there are more practical ways to teaching our children and preparing them today for tomorrow,” she said.(NAN) (www.nannews.ng)