Two hundred teachers and six Chief Inspectors of Education (CIE) in Edo and Delta states are undergoing comprehensive training to overhaul their pedagogical skills
The training, which began with a three-day workshop penultimate week in Benin City, will last three months and be followed by the establishment of Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) clubs in the schools of the teachers.
An initiative of SEPLAT Energy Plc, an indigenous energy company, in collaboration with Joint Venture partner, Nigerian Petroleum Development Company (NPDC), the Seplat JV Teachers Empowerment Programme (STEP) was developed to address gaps that the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has identified in public and private school teachers teaching at the basic education level.
Speaking of the programme in Benin, the Director, External Affairs and Sustainability, SEPLAT, Dr Chioma Nwachukwu, said the teachers would learn how to apply 21st century skills, lesson notes preparations, entrepreneurship, leadership development, and how to use the Seplat STEM App.
Nwachukwu, who was represented by Seplat’s Corporate Social Responsibility Manager, Mrs. Esther Icha, said the training was robust because education had gone beyond the teacher giving all the concept in class.
She said: “They are now going to apply learning and demonstration, and that is why the STEM training is very critical in nation building.
“Teachers will be trained on modern learning techniques, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills, and the lesson notes,” she said.
Nwachukwu added that the training was expected to end after three months with an award of certificates to successful teachers next February.
She said Seplat expects teachers who have gone through the training to set up a STEM club in their various schools – with the hope of inspiring puils to come up with innovative solutions to contemporary problems.
“The STEM clubs will usher in an exhibition where the use of STEM to proffer solution to world problems will be showcased”, she said.
Officials of the Edo State Ministry of Education, Edo State Ministry of Science and Technology and Delta State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education present at the training said they were happy to collaborate with SEPLAT on the project.
Permanent Secretary, Edo State Ministry of Education, Stellamaris Imasuen, said the initiative aligned with the Edo government’s vision for education.
Imasuen, who was represented by the Executive Director, Science Vocational and Technical Education, Odegua Kushe, said the state was already seeing the impact of the training on the first batch of teachers trained last year under the project.
“The impact of the training, which Seplat started last year, is evident in the increase in the number of students participating in science and technology competitions at both local and international levels,” she said.
On her part, the Delta State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Rose Ezewu, praised the company for partnering with government to equip teachers with modern techniques for improved teaching and learning.
Ezewu, represented by the Director of School Services, Ufuoma Oduma, said the training had addressed a gap created by non-adaptation of modern technology in the teaching process.

Also speaking, Managing Director, NPDC, Alli Zahra, represented by Bassey Etim Bassey, said the training was necessary because of the critical role that teachers play in nation-building.
Some of the participants said the training would give opportunity to change how they teach.
EJoma Emiliana, a CIE from Oshimili South LGA, Delta State said the programme had enhanced her knowledge as a supervisor.
“This programme has increased and enhanced my knowledge. Thanks to Seplat for coming to better my ideas in different ways,” she said.
Another participant, Godfrey Edobholo, a teacher from the Federal Science and Technical College (FSTC), Uromi, Edo State, said he appreciated the empowerment programme which he described as awesome.
He said: “We have seen how our minds have been refined because a mind refined is a life transformed. We have seen how important it is because as a teacher, you are a leader.
“We have seen the bridge and the link between a teacher and a leader because leadership itself is programming to securing the present which is the now and also capturing the future. So generally, the Seplat empowerment programme is for us to secure the future of our children which is our students and also capture the future because if you trained a child, you have educated a nation.”
The Tide learnt that selection of teachers for this year’s training was stiff – with 874 teachers in Edo and Delta states taking an online test from which the 206 participants were selected. The beneficiaries were drawn from 28 schools each from both states – with a ratio of five teachers for each public school, and two from each private school.
Recall that for the maiden edition of the STEP initiative STEP initiative last year, 389 teachers from Edo and Delta states took the online qualification test on September 16, 2020.
On November 23, 2020, 143 participants comprising 100 secondary school teachers and 43 CIEs began with an initial five-day physical training, followed by a virtual training using an online platform designed specifically for the programme.