Cross River State Governor, Professor Ben Ayade, has emphasised the importance of training and retraining of teachers, insisting that the quality of teachers and teaching invariably rub off on pupils.
The governor said it was for that reason that his administration established a world-class Teachers Continuous Training Institute, TCTI, in Biase, Central Cross River.
Ayade spoke recently at Transcorp Hotel, Calabar, during a flag-off of the Southern Zone phase of the 2019 School-Based Management- School Improvement Programme (SBMC-SIP) Implementation.
According to him, "emphasis should be given to the quality of the teacher, the training of the teacher, the capacity of the teacher, the fact that the teacher has good morals, the fact that the teacher himself is subjected to occasional examinations, occasional training and improvements because this is vital to the output which are the pupils."
Ayade disclosed that the state has a "teachers training college that provides for the training of teachers and the production of teachers.
"We decided to set up a Teachers Continuous Training Institute which core responsibility is to teach teachers on the latest trends in their respective fields.
"Any teacher who passes through this institute does not a degree because it is a continuous training programme, it is not a degree-awarding program, it doesn't give you any certificate. It only equips you and it is based on that performance that you are promoted," he quipped.
Earlier, Executive Secretary of Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, explained that for the 2019 SBMC-SIP, 1,147 communities will benefit from the fund, ranging from special grants of 5million Naira to Macro and Micro grants of N2 million and N350,000 respectively.
Cross River, the UBEC boss disclosed, "will receive various amounts in funding support for 31 projects under this 2019 arrangement."
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