No IT skill, no promotion, Enugu tells teachers

A cross-section of the head teachers
 

The Anambra State Government has said that from January 2016, teachers in the state who are not computer literate will no longer enjoy promotion.

The state Commissioner for Education, Prof. Kate Omenugha, said this in a press briefing in her office in Awka on Tuesday.

She, however, explained that the state government’s policy on laptop acquisition by all teachers in the state was not mandatory for the teachers.

Since the policy was introduced, most teachers had been complaining that government was forcing them to buy laptops at N90,000 each.

But the commissioner said the implementation of the computer policy for teachers was a national issue, adding that the National Council on Education, at its 58th meeting in February 2012, decided that adequate number of computer laptops should be supplied to teachers in the country with soft loan provided by the government.

ADVERTISEMENT

Omenugha said the present administration in the state merely decided to implement the policy as part of measures to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the state.

She said, “There has been misinformation and misconception, with bad blood being generated on the policy of one-teacher-one-computer. When the NCE took the decision in 2012, it was binding on all states and because of the forward-looking nature of the present administration, we decided to implement it.

“When we took over, the state government evolved a blueprint on the implementation of the one-teacher-one-laptop policy and by January 2016, every teacher in the state must be computer literate, otherwise there will be no promotion for non-computer literate teachers.

“Similarly, any new teacher to be employed in the state must be computer literate. What we promised Anambra State people is to give our children an education that is competitive and no pupil can rise above his teacher that is not computer literate, a situation we do not want.

“We made it clear that teachers should key in into the programme voluntarily. It is not mandatory, contrary to what many people are insinuating. We know that making changes often come with resistance, but this is one change that is important for the future of education in our state.”

Omenugha, however, said that the state government would not punish any teacher that did not have a laptop by January 2016 but she insisted that any of them that was not computer literate at the end of this year would not be promoted.