Member representing Aninri/Awgu/Orji-River Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Tobi Okechukwu, has taken selected students in his constituency for an ‘Education Tour’.
The lawmaker said this is a continuation of his desire to compliment the efforts of the state government in changing the narrative in the education sector.
He went on to say that the tour will add as a boost to what he has done in the past which includes; distribution of science kit to over sixty public schools, construction and reconstruction of classroom blocks, training of science teachers at SEDI, purchase of seats and desks for over sixty public schools, sponsoring students to learn vocational training and also paying WAEC fees for over 1000 students yearly, etc.
The first batch of the learning tour which catered to over 200 students from 11 schools in his constituency such as Boys Secondary School Mmaku, Boys Secondary School Awgu, St.Vincent Secondary School Agbogugu, Community Secondary school lsu Awaa, Community Secondary School Ngene Ugbo, Model Secondary School Mpu, Girls High School Nenwe, Kings Secondary School Oduma, Urban Secondary School, Oji River, Awlaw High Secondary School, Model secondary School , Isikwe Achi.
Speaking on the import of the tour, Hon. Okechukwu said;
“Like I would always say, you can take a man’s wealth and properties from him, but education is the one thing you can never take away from him. What we are trying to do is to encourage our young people to have exposure. We want to encourage them to come and interface with what happens in urban areas by taking them to various points so that they will be inspired.
“Places like airport to see what it looks like, manufacturing companies like Innoson where they manufactures cars and plastics, some will want to be broadcasters, firsthand experience will sufficiently expose our young people. So we want to select people from various schools and then get them exposed, and we will be doing it routinely so that they will have sufficient opportunity to understand what all these sectors do.”
He also hinted that the tour could become a yearly event for the final year students in secondary schools.
The learning tour kicked off on the 3rd of November with a seminar hosted by Dr. Godwin Ikechukwu Udeuhere, where he educated the students on the reason for the learning tour and what Hon. Toby planned to achieve with it.
Speaking on Toby’s reason for organizing the learning tour, he said, “Toby is a product of a local school. As a result of this, he knew what it takes to do what he is doing. Some people at his level today will not remember the things he remembers. You are going to visit FRCN Enugu, and also NTA.
The first place of visit was NTA Enugu and the head of News department who was available to receive the students to the station.
It was straight to business as he took the visitors to the various departments in the station- the newsroom, editing studio, live studio, recording studio and their uses.
“NTA Enugu is a little different from the NTA Aba, Awka, Onitsha, Umahia and Owerri because of the tag, ‘network center’ which is due to our digital satellite” he said.
Teaching them the use of the 5 w’s and h and how it is applied in broadcasting, he also taught them that broadcasting is one of the most revered professions in the world due to their role as the gatekeepers of the society.
From NTA Enugu, the excited students moved to Innoson plastics where they were intrigued with the plastic making process, different types of plastics and what made them different.
Mr Clinton Ogudu, a worker at the factory who also served as a tour guide for the students took them on a tour of the whole facility, as well as engaging them in an interactive session where they experienced firsthand, how the plastics were made.
The final point was the Scientific Equipment Development Institute (SEDI) and this was different as the lawmakers joined them for the tour.
Engr. Oforndu who represented Engr. David Daniel, the Acting Managing Director and CEO of the institute welcomed the students to the facility.
“As a matter of information and necessary gratitude, I want to let you know that SEDI is an arm of The National Agency for Science and Engineering of the federation and strictly supervised by the presidency. As a matter of mandate, the institute is to research and develop science equipments and engineering construction, that will be used for teaching you in the university.
“Our primary objective is to minimize importation, and make sure that teaching aids that students, right from basic to post basic level of education is produced and domesticated within. It is obvious that we know that majority of the items we use are imported into this country. And sadly it does not help the situation.
“We’ve also carried out an investigation and found out that the schools we manage within lack the basic facilities that will encourage effective learning in our schools and hence the need for local manufacturers and researchers, to go into the research and production of basic science equipments, that students in secondary school and universities will use for their experiments.
“The reason is to make them globally competitive and make sure that you study science and mathematics in Nigeria just like it is studied in the western world. We already have marvelous teachers here in Nigeria, but the challenge is infrastructure to aid the learning, and because of that the federal government is interested in domesticating this basic science equipment within to make sure that schools can access them at affordable rates.
“Because of cost of importation, so many private schools and government schools do not have the financial capacity to bring about their procurement and make sure that students of these schools make use of them while they are in school. So at the post basic level, they find it difficult to understand deeper interpretations of these mathematical approaches of science education, and the reason is that they were not exposed to them earlier on.
“That’s what has actually given birth to the local production and domestication of some of the basic science equipments and to ensure that teachers who teach science subjects would be able to lay hands on some effective models that will convey effective learning and when they do it, it becomes easier for students to use it.
“The aim of all these is to take you to a place of global competitiveness. Where you can compete with you fellow students around the world”, Oforndu concluded.
At the end of his speech, Engr. Oforndu took the students on a tour to all the departments of SEDI, while also teaching them on the proper use of some of the equipments found there.
In a vote of thanks, one of the students of Community Secondary School Ugbo, Chinenye thanked Toby for his hard work and all he keeps doing for schools in his constituency ,“I have seen a lot of your work even when we went to innoson company, where we saw many things you did there, and we are here in SEDI and I saw the equipments you gave to them, and I want to say keep it up and also say thank you very much”.
At the end of the excursion, Hon. Toby Okechukwu put smile on the faces of the students and teachers by giving each of the students and teachers a cash gift which in his words he said they should ‘use it and buy detergents’ to wash their clothes.
