By Ozioruva Aliu

BENIN CITY – NOT less than 1,446 teachers and principals in Edo State would benefit from a training by the state government under  its EdoBEST 2.0  programme to sustain the gains recorded in the education sector in the state.

   Besides, it said 306 state-owned junior secondary schools (JSS) have been incorporated into the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme as part of efforts to improve the standard of education in the state.

   The Executive Chairman, Edo SUBEB, Mrs. Ozavize  Salami, who disclosed this to journalists over the weekend said the 10-day intensive training programme was to equip the teachers with new teaching methods.

  She said the training will effectively address the gap among the teaching corps in the state’s junior secondary school system by at least 95 percent.

   “With the inclusion of 306 junior secondary schools, over 32,000 additional Edo children are now covered under the state’s structured learning methodology through its EdoBEST programme.

   “Government is the largest provider of basic education service in the state and we are optimistic that our deliberate investment in teachers through professional development programmes will lead to measurable improvement in the learning outcomes of all our students located in urban, rural and even hard-to-reach areas of our state”

She said because of the strategic role that teachers play in the basic education ecosystem, Governor Obaseki through EdoBEST, has since 2018, consistently prioritized teacher professional development as a vehicle for accelerating learning.

  On her part, the Commissioner for Education, Dr Joan Osa-Oviawe said the Edo best 2.0 was a sequel to the first one for primary schools which was a huge success that created “a new scheme of work, a standardized time table so that whatever is taught in Benin is what is being taught at Ogbona, it is what is being taught at Ubiaja and it is what is being taught in Ajokin, Nikhoroga, in all the riverine and remote communities in Edo State.”

  The state governor,Godwin Obaseki charged parents to be more responsible for the training of their children

   He said “We have one year of pre-primary education for the child, and our basic education will now be six years of primary school and three years of junior secondary school, that is what the law says so when you finish your first ten years of education, you now decide, am I going to secondary school or am I going to technical school, that is the law”