We Need More Male Teachers in Schools – Educationist

A United States-based Professor of  Education, Georgianna Duarte, has canvassed the need for more male teachers in schools, especially at the early childhood level.

She spoke on Wednesday in Lagos on the sidelines of a Focus on the Young Child Education summit organised by a group, Early Years Consult Limited.
FOYC initiative seeks to raise the quality of early childhood education and care in Nigeria and Africa to the global best practice standard.
Duarte, who lamented the dearth of male teachers across the globe, described the development as a “disturbing one”.
According to the professor of Early Childhood Education at the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, the masculine elements will do some good to the school system.
She said, “The dearth of male teachers is a challenge in Nigeria and in many parts of the world. It is a problem internationally. I believe that our classrooms should have masculine elements.
“We need to recruit more men in the early childhood education. Unfortunately, many men prefer engineering, journalism, sales, marketing and other professions to education.
“In Nigeria, we have only a few men in early childhood education.  It is a big challenge. Nigeria needs to develop an organisation for men in education.
“Right now, there is none in the country. In the US, a group, Men in Early Education, focuses on men in education. We need to encourage men to stay in education.
“For even the few in the system, their thinking is that they will just do it for a short period. This is unfortunate and disturbing.”
On the training, Duarte, who is one of the resource persons, said the initiative was to empower the participants on the developmental needs of young children.
The training, she added, was to strengthen the trainees’ teaching methodology, literacy and skills.
Children, she also noted, needed a stronger foundation in order to prepare them for the future.
The Early Years Managing Consultant, Mrs. Funsho Chikezie, also said a sound early education would have positive impact on the sector.
According to her, if children receive good tutoring at their early stage, there is the tendency that they will do better in the other levels of education and in life.
She, therefore, urged all tiers of governments and corporate firms in the country to support such training initiatives targeted at equipping teachers with the rudiments of early childhood education.