Education
True Teachers Don’t Retire– VC
Vice Chancellor of the University of Port Harcourt (UNIPOST), Professor Joseph Ajienka says those who are real teachers in life do not retire because they continue to be involved in teaching till they die.
He made the assertion recently at a valedictory session in honour of six retiring professors of the university.
They are Professors Emamena Akama (Department of Religious and Cultural Studies, Reginald Moro (Department of Economics) and Samuel Ibodje (Department of Political and Administrative Studies).
Others are Mark Anikpo (Department of Sociology), Levi Amajor (Department of Geology) and Hyacinth Dike (Department of Educational Technology and Curriculum Development).
Speaking at the well-attended event, the vice chancellor, who expressed gratitude to the retirees for their immeasurable services to the university, described them as inspirational figures.
He said they “have duly paid their rents for the academic spaces they occupied for so long in the UNIPORT, saying that “the university is proud to have these quality of scholars in its midst”.
Professor Ajienka, who refered to the six professors as “academic generals”, extolled their academic and administrative qualities which, he said, enabled them to make significant contributions to the development of the university and the larger society.
While encouraging them to continue to be active in other areas of their academic lives after retirement, he noted that they cannot truly retire as academicians.
“A true teacher does not really retire. He is a teacher for life. As long as the intellect is active, we must find ways of engaging in meaningful activities to keep the intellect warm”, the VC said.
On how to keep themselves busy, Ajienka, who is the 7th VC of UNIPORT encouraged them to join and lead research teams to mentor and give direction to young academics.
This, he said, will attract national and international grants, as well as focus on their main area of academics through organising short courses, applied technology workshops for the industries, authoring books and engaging more in community services to enrich society.
In their separate speeches at the occasion Emeritus Professor Nimi Briggs, Professors Michael Oti (Department of Geology) and Wellington Wotogbe-Weneka, (Department of Religions and Cultural Studies) eulogise the contributions of the retirees being among those who formed the foundation of academic staff of the university.
They described the retiring Professors as “unassailable” academic giants, who made enormous personal sacrifices to stabilise the university in those early days”.
While responding on behalf of the honorees, Professor Amajor expressed gratitude and advised younger colleagues to work harder in order to place the university on high pedestal.
The River State Commissioner for Education, Dr Peters Nwagor has called on media practitioners in Rivers State to deploy their various communication platforms toward promoting government programmes and policies aimed at achieving sustainable development in the education sector. Dr. Nwagor made the appeal when members of the Etche Ethnic Practicing Journalists (EEPJ) paid him a courtesy visit in Office in Port Harcourt. The Commissioner emphasized the strategic role of the media in shaping public perception, promoting government initiatives, and supporting policies capable of improving the quality of education and human capital development in the state. According to him, constructive media engagement remains essential in creating public awareness on educational reforms, students’ welfare, infrastructural improvements, and other interventions being implemented by the state government. Speaking on the recent appro
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