The Lagos State government has elevated a total of 289 vice-principals and 340 classroom teachers to principals and vice-principals respectively in its various junior and senior secondary schools across the six education districts of the state.
They were promoted within the last two years to replace those who retired from active service having reached the statutory age of retirement.
The chairman of Lagos Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mrs Elizabeth Olabisi Ariyo, made this disclosure at the two-day induction programme organised for the 100 principals and 96 vice-principals promoted this year from the figure.
She said both batches sat for promotional exams including written and oral interviews alongside their colleagues before they were found worthy for their new positions as school administrators.
She said the capacity-building workshop was to introduce them to the scheme of activities demanded of their new assignments and sharpen their knowledge and skills to be able to do well in those roles and contribute meaningfully to the education development of the state.
She asked them to see their elevation as a call for more and better service and therefore should not rest on their oars.
While noting that the state government would continue to fill vacant positions created due to retirement or deaths of teachers and school administrators with new capable hands periodically, the TESCOM boss said the government would also give priority to their training and retraining on the job.
In her own address, the permanent secretary of the commission, Mrs Toyin Machado-Onanuga said the importance of the induction programme was to integrate and equip them with requisite leadership skills that would take them through the new career path and also turn them into more resourceful individuals.
Speaking on the theme of the event, ”Re-imaging leadership in the management of post-primary school education in Lagos State,” Mrs Machado-Onanuga, said the training was designed to help them better understand their roles and responsibilities in the day to day running of the school system.
She said the state government is expected much from them.
In his own remarks, the chairman of Baysil Consults Limited, a consultancy firm that handled the training, Mr Ademola Badru, said the participants would be taken through many aspects of their new roles including in the face of a post-COVID-19 work environment.
He told participants that the training would help them to develop the right leadership skills and also improve their ability to influence positive change and inspire confidence in their respective assignments.
He said notwithstanding the various challenges that may face at work, in the families, and also in the society at large, they should strive to overcome them to achieve set goals.
Some of the participants told Nigerian Tribune about some of the challenges confronting public schools in the state.
They listed overcrowded classrooms, inadequate teachers, students’ truancy, and poor infrastructures as the major ones.
They promised to put in their best towards moving the teaching profession and education sector in general to greater heights in the state.
Source: https://franktalknow.com/