The Federal Ministry of Education, Abuja has trained over 45 science and technology teachers from federal unity colleges in the southern zone of the country on the use, maintenance and servicing of newly-acquired machines.
Training was aimed at exposing the teachers to the repair and maintenance of school science equipment as well as designing and fabrication of standard kits for use in the laboratories.
The Director, Federal Science Equipment Centre, FSEC, Ijanikin, Lagos, Mr Yekini Ismaila, presented certificates to the participants after the training.
The certificates were presented to the participants at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti by Ismaila on Thursday.
Speaking with NAN shortly after the presentation of the certificates, the director said that the teachers were trained in the use, maintenance and servicing of the newly-acquired machines.
He said that the centre that had been comatose for over three years and was currently being repositioned to provide in-service training for laboratory assistants and technicians.
This, Ismaila said, was with a view to enhancing their skills in the repair, care and maintenance of the equipment.
According to him, the reactivation of the centre is in line with the present administration’s commitment to promoting technical and science education as a critical factor in the attainment of national development.
He maintained that the certificates that were presented to the participants would enhance their career progression, the absence of which, he said, had led to dearth of laboratory technicians and assistants in secondary schools across the country.
The director said that government would soon furnish science laboratories in federal unity colleges and workshops of federal science and technical colleges.
He said that the centre had trained teachers and other members of staff expected to take over the maintenance and repair of the equipment in the colleges.
Ismaila further stated that the centre was established in 1971 to address the challenges of science and technical education on a tripartite agreement, involving the federal ministry of education, UNESCO and the UNDP.
He, however, said that the international development partners pulled out in 1984 at the end of the project, leaving only the ministry to sustain the centre, thus creating some funding challenges.
“The pullout affected the training and sustenance of the workforce, as most of the trained pioneer staffers had either retired or died, a situation that created the dire need to get more staffers trained to operate the newly-installed equipment.
“The proficiency training of the members of staff will give a new lease to the centre and improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the educational and technological transformation of the country.
“The trainees have learnt how to use, maintain and service the machines; they have also imbibed the operational skills required in the production of science equipment and improved on the production capacity of science equipment,” he said.
Teachers from all the federal unity schools across the southern zone were present at the training, with over 1,000 items brought by various schools for repairs, which were done during the two-week training.
The items included battery chargers, balances, voltmeter, ammeter, galvanometer, microscopes, stop watches/clocks, burettes, pipette, clinostat, Bunsen burner and micrometre screw-gauge.
Others were venire calliper, potentiometers, Meter Bridge as well as science teaching facilities at the primary school levels.
Ismaila commended the Minster of Education, the permanent secretary and the Director of Science and Technology, Mrs Elizabeth Adedigba, for exposing the participants to more knowledge.
He said that the participants would be in the position to train others the two-week training, given the quantum of the knowledge acquired.
Responding on behalf of the teachers, Alhaji Ade Sodipo, thanked the Federal Government for the opportunity given to them and appealed for more assistance in the areas of funding and encouragement, noting that several schools needed government’s attention.
“We all like to appeal to the Federal Government for more capacity building and exposure in order to acquire more knowledge, in line with the modern technology,” he said. (NAN)
