Over 400 students of Government Day Secondary School in New Bwari, Tafa local government area of Niger State are currently benefitting from the Teacher Bank Project of the Restored Heart Foundation.
The project which provides extra teachers to support the day-to-day academic activities of the school is aimed at addressing the lack of access to quality teachers and as a result, education in Nigeria’s rural communities for a period of one year.
According to Samuel Oluwatimilehin, Founder/Executive Director of The Restored Heart Foundation, inadequate teachers is highlighted as a major impediment to achieving quality education in Nigeria.
He explained that ensuring everyone has access to quality education was the organisation’s motivation for the Teachers Bank Project which recruits teachers for junior and senior secondary schools in underserved communities in Nigeria.
“Government Day Secondary School, New Bwari under Tafa Local Government Area of Niger State is the first school in Nigeria for this project to kick off and it is one of the schools in dire need of teachers, especially for the following subjects Mathematics and English Language for both junior and senior classes.
“The school has a population of over 400 students as of the time we visited the school in June 2022 and 9 teachers including the school principal,” he explained.
Continuing, Mr Oluwatimilẹhin highlighted the focus of the project as to ensure “students living and schooling in these communities are independent of themselves in the future where they understand their rights to make the right choices for their lives.”
He added that after a thorough needs assessment by his organisation, a total of nine teachers were recruited to support the school with focus on two subjects; English Language and Mathematics.
Speaking with our correspondent, one of the teachers recruited by the organisation, Khadija Umar, said the project has broadened her thinking about life, adding that many of the students are willing to learn, but the lack of learning facilities which she described as challenging.
Another teacher, Idimoye Onoriode, while highlighting some of the challenges faced by the students like lack of teaching facilities, and infrastructure among others, said the Teacher Bank project has to an extent bridged the gap of inadequate teachers in the school.
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