Empowers them to reproduce themselves in Akwa Ibom public schools …Number of teachers trained rises to 3,542

Inoyo Toro Foundation has concluded an intensive capacity building and mentorship training programme for its 2024 award winning teachers in Akwa Ibom State, with beneficiaries empowered to reproduce their kind across public secondary schools in the state.

Organized for the 22 winners of the Foundation’s 2024 Teaching Excellence Awards, the training was designed to sharpen the teaching and mentorship skills of the teachers and inspire them to replicate other award-winning teachers in the state, through effective mentorship.

One of the training resource persons, Professor Aniekan Brown, expounded the concept of mentorship, using the mentor-mentee model of Jesus Christ with his twelve disciples.

“See how Jesus raised 12 men, mentored them and they became his voice in the world after he departed. The pattern Jesus used can be emulated. He was close to them, showed what they needed for effectiveness and always paid attention to their concerns and questions”.

Professor Brown, a scholar and current Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Uyo, encouraged the teachers to take their work seriously and present themselves as models of examples.

“As teachers, you need to take your work seriously. That is why I admired my teachers in secondary school. If you are serious and show concern, your students will appreciate you and your work. You should always be innovative in handling your lessons since our society is an evolving one with new approaches to learning”.

Speaking on “Introduction to Mentoring”, Professor Enobong Joshua, the Foundation’s Chief Operating Officer cum Screening and Award Committee Chairman, tutored the teachers on sub-themes such as teacher mentoring, purpose of mentoring, attributes of a mentor, best practices in mentoring, common problems with mentoring, benefits and limitations of mentoring, with the session thawing into moments of interactions with the teachers.

Professor Joshua, earlier in his welcome address, had charged each of the award-winning teachers to recruit four to seven teachers in their subject areas in neighboring secondary schools in their localities and mentor them to be ready for prize winning in 2025,.

“Through the capacity building and mentorship programme, Inoyo Toro Foundation is contributing to the retraining of teachers in public secondary schools in the state. Our intention is to strengthen and fine-tune the capacity of teachers”.

Another resource person, Mr. Ekanabasi Ubong, former Permanent Secretary, Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Education, took the teachers on “Effective Mentoring: Developing Mentor-Mentee Relationships”, highlighting the winning ways by which mentors can foster good working relationship with their mentees.

Similarly, Mrs. Emem Nkereuwem, an astute communications scholar and media practitioner, trained the teachers on “Mentoring in Action: Mentoring Tools and Communication Skills”. She led her session by demonstrating practical techniques, methods, guides and toolkits for mentoring.

There were breakout sessions on developing mentorship plans and programmes, as well as pep talks led by three grand mentors of Inoyo Toro Foundation: Patience Blaise Umoh (English Language), Ekpedeme Cyril Akpan (Mathematics), Ekemini Emmanuel Isok (Biology).

On her part, the Director of School Services in the Akwa Ibom State Secondary Education Board, Mrs Rosalind Inyang-Ibom congratulated the trainees and urged them to take the training seriously as a life time experience. She was full of commendation to Inoyo Toro Foundation for assisting the government in teacher retraining in Akwa Ibom State over the years.

In the last 18 years, Inoyo Toro Foundation has so far trained over 3,542 teachers, rewarded over 299 teachers and 8 principals with cash prizes, mentored over 6,003 students, jointly offered scholarships to 50 university students, and has so far positively impacted over 138 schools in Akwa Ibom State. The Foundation has remained consistent in the development of competencies and capacities in Akwa Ibom State, with beneficiaries including teachers, students, schools, libraries, laboratories, lawyers, engineers, journalists, medical workers, techies, film makers, writers, actors and actresses, entrepreneurs, youths and women across various communities in Akwa Ibom State.

Photos from the retraining