Robust Education System is the Key to National Development – Wike

Robust Education System is the Key to National Development – Wike:

The supervising Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, has said that a robust education system was key to achieving a holistic national development.

Declaring open a four-day capacity building workshop for primary school teachers in the South East Abakaliki on Monday, Wike said the workshop was one of several approaches by the federal government to address the falling standard of education.

The minister, who was represented by a director in the Federal Scholarship Board, Mrs Ifeoma Agunwa, lamented the declining standard at all levels of the education sector.

He said that no meaningful development could be achieved under the present level of education, saying that a robust education system remained the fulcrum that drove genuine political and socio-economic development.

“For us to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, special focus must be given to education. It is of utmost important because it develops the mind.

“Understanding the written word and expanding one’s vocabulary are ways the mind grows in its ability.

“A person is limited in what he can accomplish without good reading and comprehension skills,’’ Wike said.

The minister described teachers as critical factors in the Read Campaign and charged the participants to pay attention to maximise the benefits of the programme.

“Whatever you learnt at this workshop, you will replicate at your various states and schools, therefore, I urge you to pay serious attention to all the discourse,’’ he said.

He commended the National Action Committee on Read Campaign and the office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs for organising the workshop.

In her goodwill message, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on MDGs, Mrs Precious Gbenol, said the Workshop was to build the reading capacity of the primary school children.

Gbenol, represented by Mr Israel Echekwu, said that knowledge acquired from the workshop would encourage the teachers to develop the culture of reading in their pupils.

Earlier in his remark, the Permanent Secretary in the Ebonyi State Universal Basic Education Board and Chairman of the occasion, Mr Oliver Eze, said the workshop was a remedial intervention. (NAN)