Bayelsa State Governor,Senator Douye Diri, has identified shirking of responsibility by government, teachers and communities as the cause of dwindling fortunes in education in the country.
He stated this at Toru-Orua Community in the Sagbama Council Area of the state yesterday while flagging off the 5th Batch of primary school teachers training programme organised by the State’s Teacher Training, Registration and Certification Board (TTRCB).
Diri, represented by his Deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, noted that achieving quality sustainable education is becoming increasingly difficult as key stakeholders are not playing their roles well, berating all tiers of government for paying lip service to measures that are capable of strengthening primary education.
The ‘Miracle’ Governor, who also lambasted teachers, community leaders and other stakeholders for their nonchalant attitude towards education, stressed that the faulty foundation being created at the primary school level was rubbing off negatively on the country. However, he applauded the immediate past administration of former governor Seriake Dickson for laying the foundation for the present administration to build a better educational system in the state.
Underscoring the importance of training and re-training of teachers, Diri pointed out that no Educational system could rise above the quality of its teachers, just as he assured of government’s commitment to funding the training programme.
The Governor advised the teachers to be passionate, humble and determined in the discharge of their duties, bearing in mind that, to a large extent, quality education delivery rests on them.
“No doubt, that our education system is wobbling and tottering because the primary school system has been eroded and destroyed, for three reasons.
“First, the incompetence of those managing it; the lack of government commitment towards education, and the unwillingness of the communities themselves to support the system. So there is a pile of blame to be apportioned to everybody.Government has paid too much lip-service to the primary education system. Commitment of government is more of rhetorics than of practicality; it is more of talk and less of work.
“I want to call on government at all levels across the country to take the issues of primary school more seriously than it is now.
“On their part, our communities have become docile and indifferent to what is happening in the primary schools. They feel what happens in the schools is not their business. It should be your business because the pupils to be trained in the schools are your children and wards”, he said.
“Our communities must take it as a duty that they need to respond to what happens in our primary schools. Communities should be able to recruit ad hoc teachers to support the school system. As teachers you are holding destinies and futures of a lot of people in your hand. You are managing from primary one to six. Those who are responsible always remember their primary school teachers but in these days we can’t remember our primary school teachers because they have conducted themselves in a way that we can’t remember them”, Governor Diri added.
Earlier in her opening remarks, the Executive Chairman of the Teacher Training, Registration and Certification Board, Dr. Stella PeremoboereUgolo, expressed gratitude to the Governor for fully funding the teacher’s training programme.
She also appreciated the Management of the University of Africa, Toru-Orua for making its facilities available for the training exercise, saying the Board was committed to quality assurance in the delivery of Educational services in the state.

By: AriweraIbibo-Howells, Yenagoa