Teachers Critical To Society’s Growth, Development – Osinbajo

Teachers are critical in the transformation and development of a country, and this is why they should harness the power of cutting-edge technology in their work so as to better prepare young people for today’s world.

This was the summation of the speech by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, yesterday in commemoration of the World Teachers’ Day at the Eagle Square, Abuja.

Speaking on the theme of this year’s World Teachers’ Day, ‘The Transformation of Education Begins with Teachers,’  Osinbajo in a statement by his media aide, Laolu Akande, noted that teachers should embrace innovation because they also have an important responsibility to themselves, “for them to be at the cutting edge of advancements in education and especially the use of technology and modern teaching methods.”

Emphasising on the significance of the knowledge economy in global development today, the Vice President said, “Whereas our previous pedagogy inadvertently produced students who were good stores of crammed information, the demands of the future require that we position our young people to think for themselves, to absorb and process the wealth of information available to them, and to tease out useful knowledge.

“Education must respond to the dynamism, speed of development and massive changes in society.  Educators must understand   the skills required to take full advantage of a world dependent on technology. In addition to listening, education today includes writing, ideation, imagining, and critical thinking skills. It is no longer merely learning by rote.”

While thanking them for their services to the country and its people, the VP who himself was a teacher for 40 years since 1981 urged teachers to continue to “plug themselves into the global knowledge pool”