By Modupe Gbadeyanka
More teachers would be employed this week by the Edo State government, Governor Adams Oshiomhole has assured.
He made this known in Benin City, the state capital, on Friday, November 4, 2016 during an interactive session with female students of different schools at the Second Edo State Festival of the Girl Child organized by ‘We Care Trust Foundation’, a pet project of his wife, Mrs Iara.
Mr Oshiomhole revealed that interviews have already been conducted to select the new teachers, noting that they would be posted to schools this week.
According to the Governor, his administration is committed to providing quality education to students in public schools in the state.
“My takeaway from this meeting is that the Commissioner for Education, before he retires next week (this week), must between now and Tuesday give me a list of Mathematics teachers, English Language, English Literature, Geography, Science teachers and Arts teachers.
“We have already done the interview; we will select a number and we will post them to your schools next week (this week) before the end of my tenure, so that you will be able to say, when you met with the Governor, you told him that you needed Mathematics teacher, five days later a Mathematics teacher has resumed in your school, and Physics teacher, etcetera,” he said.
According to him, “In many of your schools, you are happy with the buildings, the equipment, but even for the laboratory equipment, you need modern ones, and where you don’t have, they will be provided.
“I am not sure how long it takes to order them and to have them delivered because we don’t have them right in any warehouse now. So, we won’t be able to deliver those before the end of my tenure, but I will do a memo, I will sign, and Godwin Obaseki, when he assumes office, he will ensure those equipment are provided.
“The other common issue is that we have to ensure there are libraries and that the libraries are well stocked.”
He also said that the “issue of Emotan College is very interesting. They looked at Idia College and they want their college to be even finer than Idia College. Here and now, we will make sure that Emotan College is remodelled so that it will be just as beautiful as Idia College with a college hall and a laboratory.”
He promised that “my successor will ensure that the other schools that are under construction are completed. We still have some blocks that have not been finished. Those will be completed, and the ones that we haven’t yet started, the next governor will continue from where I am going to stop.
“You know that government, as they say, is a continuum. One governor and one government cannot finish everything. But if the next governor does as much as we have done, and I know that the next governor will do even more than what we have done, then all the schools in Edo State will begin to look like Imaguero College, Idia College and New Era College.”