By Uzo Ugwunze
The annual Leadership Retreat for Headteachers, Officers-in-charge, and Directors in the State Basic Education sector has ended with a call on the participants not to relent in rendering quality service to humanity.
The retreat organised in batches for the entire Local Government Education Authorities, LGEAs in the State held at Archbishop Obiefuna Retreat and Pastoral Centre, Okpuno, Awka with the theme: “Education as a Panacea for Human Capital Development: Effective and Efficient School Management as Sustaining Factors” could be simply described as a forum to retrain the school administrators to address salient issues that militate against the implementation of educational policies and programmes of the state government.
Addressing the participants, the State Head of Service, Barr. Theodora Igwegbe stressed the importance of imbibing the values of hardwork and honesty which can help to reduce examination malpractice in schools, and boost learning outcomes, urging the participants to teach the societal values to the school children in order to reduce social vices ravaging our contemporary society.
Also speaking, the Executive Chairman, Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board, ASUBEB, Awka, Dr. Vera Nkiru Nwadinobi stated that the retreat was aimed at reviving the essential leadership skills for the Headteachers to ensure maximum efficiency in achieving the set goals of basic education in the state.
According to Dr. Nwadinobi, the leadership retreat would allow the Headteachers to share experiences, collect critical schools data, proffer feasible solutions to their problems and motivate them for greater productivity.
“I urge you to embrace the future task with enough positivity and deliberate efforts to add value to our basic education as you get back to your schools”, she said.
Resource persons drawn from various fields of education presented well researched papers to the participants, such as Prof. Patience Egboka, whose lecture focused on “School Administration and Management in Primary Schools”, described the Headteacher as a manager, a community relations person, a supervisor, an instructor, a curriculum innovator, and a catalyst towards planned educational revolution whose role is to direct and monitor the academic and non-academic activities within the school. She called for a continuous in-service Teacher programme, improved welfare and sufficient funding as strategies for improvement of school administration.
Also in a paper titled: “Evaluation of Schools, Using Quality Assurance Indices or Aspects”, Dr. Bibiana Okoli described quality assurance as a process of monitoring, assessing, evaluating and reporting all aspects of the school life based on agreed standard, adding that human capital development is the most valuable asset within any organisation.
On her part, Dr. Ndidi Okeke who spoke on “Ethics and Values in Teaching and Learning”, stated that ethics are the principles guiding human conduct, while values shape the learning environment through the inculcation of ethical behaviours and attitudes for both the teachers and learners.
On her part, Mrs Kate Ndulue who delivered a paper on “Curriculum Prepares the Learners to Meet the Needs of the Society” emphasized that curriculum comprised the learning content, methods, and sequence for teaching and learning which guarantees uniformity and consistency that can drive learners’ progress.
The retreat also featured a paper on “Value Re-orientation and Stakeholders’ Role” presented by the Executive Chairman of ASUBEB, Awka, Dr. Vera Nkiru Nwadinobi who stated that values are standards or principles used to judge the worth of an idea or action, while value re-orientation is the act of changing, adjusting, re-aligning attitudes and beliefs to a new and acceptable behaviour.
She concluded her paper by highlighting some values in Nigeria and Anambra State, such as sacredness of human life, communal living, family, hardwork, and respect for old age among others, calling on all stakeholders in the education system to embrace the shared values of Anambra State so as to make a positive impact on everyone everywhere.
“Data Collection and Analysis Management in Schools” by Engr. Mike Neboh also featured, while question and answer session, experience sharing and suggestions for the way forward were the high points of the retreat.
In attendance were the Board Secretary, Hon. Loveline Mgbemena, the permanent Board Members, Officers-in-charge, and the Directors.