By Michael Dibie, Abuja
A group, phenomenon -Edu impact which engages in empowering communities through literacy education, training, digital classrooms and financial aid held Phenomenon 3.0 in Abuja to push for entrepreneurial skills for Nigeria teachers.
The event which is in its third face this year, with the theme: Above and Beyond, embracing entrepreneurial thinking in teaching, focused on reducing social inequalities through quality education.
Past editions focused on new teaching methodologies, technology in education, and teacher professional development while this year addressed financial empowerment for teachers.
The convener of the event, Olasunkanmi Opeifa in an opening remark said the future belongs to the teacher who dares to wear an entrepreneurial thinking cap., “We must think above and beyond the past and the present to deliver a real, tangible, glorious future. Not to the eye-service player. Not to the malpractice merchant. Not to the school landlord masking as a school owner. Not to those exploiting the weaknesses in our profession”.
According to him, entrepreneurial thinking isn’t just about owning a business, it’s a mindset. “A value creation, growing through problems, spotting opportunity in the midst of chaos, and creating, solving, adapting. That is the heart of the innovation economy”.
Also speaking at the event, Nafia Abdullahi, representative of the special adviser to the Vice President, Dr Marsha said the Vice President is very pleased with the group and its programmes while Calling on teachers to encourage students to come closer to enable them to be more participative .“Use emotional intelligence to relate to students, each student has something to offer, so they can thrive.
Some of the teachers who spoke at the event said they have benefited from the mission and cure values of the program and hope to add more value to their teacher job.
“The event has inspired me and I learnt a lot while taking the black belt courses on how to be a leader and then when this Phenomenon 3.0 came up, I decided to be intentional about it, so I have been able to combine both teaching and being an entrepreneur,” said Victoria Eyo, a teacher.
“I have leant a lot through this event, there are so many things that have been disturbing my mind, but when I listened to the speakers, I was enlightened on what to do next, As an ICT teacher in my school, I have been nursing the idea of making my class more active, not just the physical class but leverage on online classes, so from the various knowledge shared today, I believe I know what to do next” said Augustine Ukoh, another teacher.
Over the past years, phenomenon -Edu impact has train over 1000 teachers , empowered over 200 with literacy skills, equipped three digital class rooms and offered over 20 scholarships to deserving Nigeria students.
Opeifa said the impact of the program has been very massive especially in the area of teachers building teachers, “I don’t believe in developing teachers professionally without developing them personally, I believe personal development should come first before professional development”.
Founded in 2018, phenomenon -Edu impact began as the phenomenon readers club, promoting a reading culture among students in communities. About 400 One million Blackbelt graduands teachers were celebrated who spent the last year learning, unlearning and relearning through over 40 modules that span the entire education ecosystem.
