The Provost of Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, Dr Nkasiobi  Silas Oguzor, has said that the institution is committed towards the promotion of  Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the country.

Dr. Oguzor stated this at the opening ceremony of a four-day International conference on teaching and learning in Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, Rivers State, recently.

Dr. Oguzor, who described the college’s ICT centre as one of the best in the country said that it would be of great importance to participants at the conference.

He also noted that the theme  of the two conferences which held  simultaneously, “Emerging Myths and Realities in Teaching” and “Learning and E-Activity  and Technology in a Changing Environment”, organised by the African Association for Teaching and Learning  (AATL) in collaboration with the Federal College of Education (Technical) Omoku, were crucial at this time of global  transformation.

The provost thanked the African Association for Teaching and Learning (AATL), African Society for Scientific  Research (AASR), among others, for the  choice of the college for hosting  the conference.

Eminent scholars who presented papers bothering on the intricacies in educating the children of this generation and the handicap the teachers face in their chosen career include, Professor Benedicta Egbo, of the faculty of Education, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario Canada, with a paper titled’, “Teacher Capacity Building and Effective  Teaching and Learning: A Seamless Connection, Professor Hanna David of School of Education, Tel Aviv University, Jerusalem, Israel, on Overcoming The Gender Gap in Mathematics, Science and Technology: a 21st century view.

Others are, Dr. Lawrence Ogbo Ugwuanyi, senior lecturer in philosophy, Department of philosophy  and Religion, University  of Abuja,  Nigeria, “On Advancing and Environmental Ethics Through the African Worldview”, Hassan Danial Aslam, Faculty of Management, Islamic University of Behawalpur Pakistan, on Analysing  Professional Development Practices for teachers in public universities of  Pakistan.

Stakeholders advised parents to give priority to the education needs of children from kindergarten, so that they could develop interest in reading and writing and noted that parents have a role to play in laying good foundation early for the child to enable him or her to develop  fast in  school, pointing out that, the job of teaching the child should not be for the teacher alone.

“Policy makers should avoid importing exclusively western based approach to enable children participate in the 21st century global arena  and prescribed  building of teacher  capacity and integrating technology across  the curriculum”,  they said.

They tasked government to provide conducive environment and infrastructural  facilities for teaching and learning to enable teachers and students compete favourably on global educational related matters.

According to them, teachers’ morale  should be boosted through welfare and empowerment to enable them function effectively, thus the saying  that, “they are indispensable force”.

In his vote of thanks, the Chairman of the Local Organising  Committee, Dr. Samuel  Onuebunwa, a former Deputy Provost of the  College commended those who participated  in the conference.