By Amos Aar
THE UNIVERSAL Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in collaboration with the Benue State Universal Basic Education Board (BSUBEB) on Monday flagged off a 5-day capacity-building workshop for caregivers, teachers and supervisors in basic education schools on one-year pre-primary school education curriculum and Reggio Emilia approach for the teaching of children under the Early Childhood Care Development Programme (ECCDE).
Addressing participants in Makurdi, Acting Executive Chairman of SUBEB, Mr Mzaga Iorhemba who declared the training open said the one hundred and fifty (150) participants were selected across the three geo-political zones of the state and the exercise was going on simultaneously at Adikpo, Makurdi and Otukpo towns for zones A, B and C respectively with 50 participants in each zone.
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Represented by the Director of Administration and Supply, Mrs Juliana Agbo, the Acting Executive Chairman stressed the importance of the Reggio Emilia approach as he said it enables children to acquire knowledge by constructing new understanding of the world through social and personal experiences like listening moving, touching, observation etc. He added that according to statistical research conducted by UNESCO in 1995, children below the official school age of six years who have experienced early childhood or pre-primary programmes are more likely than others to remain in primary school and achieve good results.
Mr Iorhemba appreciated Benue State Governor, Rev. Fr Hyacinth Alia, for creating enabling environment for Basic Education to thrive in the state and thanked UBEC for prompt release of matching grant to facilitate Basic Education projects in Benue State.
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In a goodwill message, representative of UBEC from the Abuja headquarters in the Department of Teacher Development, Abalu Nneka, posited that if children don’t get it right at this stage, they will miss it completely, urging participants to pay maximum attention to the training to be able to go back and impact on the children.
Corroborating, UBEC State Coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Izi, described ECCDE as a critical part of education and expressed optimism that the participants are going to play key roles in the education of the pre-school children after the training.
Earlier in a welcome address, SUBEB’s Director of Quality Assurance, Mr Augustine Akula, expressed confidence that Early Childhood Care Development Centres in Basic Education Schools in Benue State are well equipped with facilities and personnel to provide the learning needs of young children and encouraged parents and guardians to enroll their children into the centres.
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On his part, Mr Uyeh Terkula Daniel, lead Facilitator for the training and lecturer at the College of Education Oju, assured that he was fully prepared to inculcate the desired knowledge into the participants and urged them to cooperate with him so that the resources invested by the government would not be in vein. Speaking for the participants, Acting HOS Quality Assurance, LGEA office, Makurdi, Dr Mrs Patience Origbo, said it was her first time to receive such a training and pledged that they will impart the knowledge to the target learners appropriately after the programme.
