By Jonathan Ugbal: Government House of Correspondent
The Cross River State government on Saturday, flagged off the construction of the West Africa Advanced Teachers Continuous Training College with the aim of improving the performance and skills of teachers.
The Governor, Senator Ben Ayade who performed the exercise at Biase local government area said the institution will address issues of performance in the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination.
Ayade who said the project will be completed within six months, also disclosed that, “the college will have international teachers, particularly from Pakistan and India to handle physics and chemistry,” adding that government, “will take a lot of teachers from the Philippines to teach in specialised areas focusing on improving WASSCE performance in the state.”
He announced plans to change the nomenclature of the ministry of education to the, “ministry of quality education,” adding that the institution will be top class.
“This will be the first of its kind in the entire West Africa, it will be awarding degrees in collaboration with the British Canadian team, share affiliation with other universities across the world, particularly Canada and Britain,” Ayade stated.
He was accompanied by his deputy, Professor Ivara Esu and several other government functionaries.
And, he said the choice of the project site was in honor of Professor Esu.
“I just thought to myself that one day when we are out of office, they will ask what did you do for Biase people when you were a deputy governor?” Ayade said.
He continued, “You will have a very big project to show as a former Vice Chancellor, former Dean, a University Professor and now a deputy governor, so, there is nothing that will please you more than adding value to education in the state.”
Furthermore, Ayade noted that, “to have quality education, one must have good teachers’ training, so this institute is dedicated to teachers’ training located in the heartbeat of a city and location where they produce lots of professors including the former Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, now the deputy governor of Cross River.”
In his remarks, Esu lauded the governor for the honor done him to site the college in his home local government and for deciding that he should run with him for a second term.
The elated deputy governor said: “My joy knows no bound and I am so happy. I want to promise him that the same kind of support that I have given to him from 2015, I will continue to support him for ever even in and out of office.”
On the project, Esu said: “I see this school in future being called Cross River State University of Education as it will train teachers to be more effective and these teachers will demonstrate their skills to the pupils and students that will be admitted here.”
He further added: “It will not only make the teachers to carter for the needs of Cross Riverians but also the rest of Nigerians and indeed West Africa as the name suggests.”
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