In line with its promise to enhance teachers’ capacity, the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund (ETF) has sponsored five past winners of the Maltina Teacher of the Year Competition to Tampere, Finland, for capacity development training.

The training was part of the prize for the winners. The teachers were taken through different modules of practical-based teaching skills.The past winners are Olasunkanmi Opeifa, Olubunmi Anani, Abanika Taiye, Alaku Ayiwulu, and Adeola Adefemi

Speaking on the training, the Chairman, Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, Mr Hans Essaadi, explained that the training was organised to expose the teachers to modern teaching methods that are productive and positively impactful to the society at large.

Essaadi said the programme is designed to upskill and maximise capacity of the teachers, to enable them deliver effectively in a way that would impact and improve the performance of students.

While commending the organisation for the gesture, the beneficiaries said the experience has further enhanced their skills, not only in teaching, but also in leadership.

Adefemi, the 2023 winner of the competition, described the training as comprehensive and fulfilling, and pledged to use the knowledge gained to impact the sector.

Sharing the same sentiment, Ayiwulu, who won in 2022, said the training gave him firsthand experience on different approaches to learning, and significance of student-centred collaboration.

Taiye, on his part, described the experience as one that created a conscious and consistent practice of collaborative and cooperative learning, while Anani said the training brought out the differences in Nigerian and Finnish education.

According to him, while the Nigerian educational system is focused on rote learning, the Finnish system is harped on equipping students with the wherewithal to become independent thinkers, creative doers, and innovative contributors.

Opeifa, the 2019 winner of the competition, said the structure of education in Finland is worth adopting, considering the emphasis placed on trust, autonomy, creativity, and collaboration.

Citing his readiness to domesticate the experience by applying it not only in the area of leadership, but also in pedagogy, Opeifa said there’s a lot to learn from the Finnish education system.

The Maltina Teacher of the Year Competition, which started in 2015 and funded through the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, was set up in 1994 to facilitate an active contribution to the development of the education sector in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.

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