THEME: 21ST CENTURY TEACHERS; EQUIP TO TEACH.
ARRIVAL: The programme commenced at exactly 9:00am as both the guests and members of staff were all punctual.
INTRODUCTION OF GUESTS: The introduction of guests was ably handled by Mr S.I Sanusi, the Master of Ceremony for the day.
WELCOME ADDRESS: The welcome address was delivered by the indefatigable Head Teacher, Mama Alade, who was full of appreciation to the FUNAAB Schools’ Management Board members for all their support, especially the Chairperson, Prof. Bolanle Akeredolu-Ale, for her love and kind gestures toward the school.
OPENING SPEECH: The Opening Speechwas delivered bythe Chairperson – FUNAAB Schools’ Management Board, Prof. Bolanle Akeredolu-Ale who gave kudos to the Head Teacher and all members of staff for their hard work as well as the achievement of the E-Report issued to pupils at the end of last session. She further promised to stand by the Staff School in other to attain greater heights.
1ST LECTURE:
The 1st Lecture was delivered by Prof. Tolu Eni-Olorunda and the focus was on: IDENTIFICATION AND MANAGEMENT OF CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS IN THE CLASSROOM. Prof. Tolu Eni-Olorunda spoke extensively on different learning difficulties and how they can be identified in learners early enough. These difficulties include: Hydrocephalus (big head), Microcephalus (small head), Visual impairment, Autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, learning disability (i.e: Dyscalculus, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia etc), etc. She mentioned that part of the indicators for early identification would include: lack of fine motor skills, communication defects, problems with social interactions, repetitive behaviours, delay in language skills, problem with eye contact, bad body postures, repetitive communication, stereotyped movements, short attention span, intellectual disability, poor colour identification, amongst others. Further to the identified problems, our speaker noted that collaboration between parents and teachers would help a great deal in helping students with any of these challenges. Conclusively, she did say that teachers’ early identification, provision of individualized learning programme and escalation can never be over emphasized, noting that specialists such as : speech and language therapist, psychologists, special educators, medical doctors and so on may be contacted for diagnosis and treatments. The lecture was well delivered in details with questions patiently answered thereafter.
2nd LECTURE:
Dr. Jubril Adio Omoyayi was the second speaker and he focused on HEALTH EDUCATION. He started by touching on the WHO’s definition of health which is seen as -The total wellbeing of anyone-. Speaking from a medical perspective, our speaker did say that health education is all about having the right medical information that increases one’s awareness regarding health issues which favourably influence us towards health concerns. He further stated that both teachers and students need to be well aware of their environment (a geographical location) and interact healthily with it in order to be able to live healthy. He further expatiated that environment can be broken down into different types, which include:
- Physical environment
- Biological environment
- Social environment
- Emotional environment
- Spiritual environment
Dr. Jubril went further to stress that a school environment must be:
- Physically suitable
- Biologically emulative
- Socially acceptable
- Emotionally stable
- Spiritually cleansed
In view of the above, our speaker said that unhealthy activities such as: keeping a dirty environment, poor personal hygiene, cultism, unhealthy examination preparations, child labour, child sexual abuse, drug misuse, abuse and addiction must never be tolerated in any guise within a school environment.
Conclusively, Dr. Jubril touched on teachers’ performance, saying it is all encompassing around so many things. He therefore encouraged good motivation for teachers on a general note as he opined that this would further encourage teachers’ health and wellbeing. Just like the first speaker, he also took time out to answer questions.
3rd LECTURE:
Dr. Folorunsho Fidelis Ojo, the HOD of Comupter Science Department of the Federal College of Education, Osiele, Abeokuta, did justice to the discourse on the need the maximize the use of ICT to further the course of ease of teaching and learning digitally in this 21st century. He mentioned that use of projectors, smart boards and the likes will better position FUNAAB Staff School among her competitors. Elsewhere, our speaker revealed that the bad eggs in the society explore the bad side of ICT, but we should explore the positive deliverables. In conclusion, Dr. Folorunsho commended FUNAAB Staff School for a clean environment kept by the school. He answered questions and promised to train members of staff pro-bono on basic computer literacy skills.
VOTE OF THANKS:
Three members of staff, Mrs Adigun, Mrs Adams and Mrs Ammeh were selected to give the vote of thanks, with each one of them coming up after a lecture.
CLOSING REMARKS:
The Head Teacher’s closing remarks centered on appreciation to the members of the organizing committee for their dedication, members of staff for their attendance and patience and the event ended at around 3:45pm.
