Edo 2024: Governorship Aspirant Promises To Resuscitate Education Sector

On Nov 26, 2023

A Peoples Democratic Party, PDP governorship aspirant in Edo state, Mr Anslem Ojezua, says he will resuscitate the education sector and ensure that teachers’ welfare is given top priority, if elected governor of the state.

Ojezua made the promise while fielding questions from members of the Correspondents’ Chapel on Sunday at their secretariat at Ogbesasa in Benin, the state capital.

The former Commissioner for Information and Orientation said he would give top priority to the education sector, saying “I am concerned about education.

“I am very concerned about education, especially at the fundamental level; this is because we have enough schools, but not enough teachers.

“In most cases, it can be traceable to the fact that it looks like the state does not have the capacity to pay for the number of teachers that are required.

“But we will have to look for a way to do it. How do we get more teachers?

“How do we involve our communities, so that our children can have access to good education?, he asked rhetorically.”

According to him, without education a lot of us will not be sitting here, not you, not me. And with education, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

“One way I will sought this out is to create a minimum standard for teachers.

“To qualify to teach in any government school, a teacher must possess the National Certificate of Education ( NCE).

“And the way they have interpreted it is that an NCE teacher will only teach one subject as against what obtains now where a teacher is meant to teach all subjects.

“This practice has made the teaching profession lose its value, unlike in the past when you had all-round classroom administrators, and teachers for special subjects like Mathematics and Physics.

“That is an area we think we will revisit. If we do that, I think we will have enough teachers.

“I know there is a federal policy on that. But the most important thing is the education of our children no matter what they say in Abuja. I don’t think it is an offence to do things differently, than the misconceived manner these things are being done,” he said.

Ojezua, who also served as a supervising Commissioner for Education in the state, noted that he would introduce bursary award in tertiary institutions in the state.

“I am a beneficiary of bursary award both in my university and law school. It is one area I will also look into to ensure that children of underprivileged families are able to acquire higher education in Edo,” he added.

NAN/Confidence Okwuchi