Ogun SUBEB Calls on Experienced Educators to Strengthen Teacher Training for Better Learning Outcomes

Ogun State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has appealed to experienced educators, retired teachers, and academic professionals in the state to step forward and contribute meaningfully to the ongoing efforts to strengthen teacher training and professional development in the public basic education system.

The appeal was made by the Executive Chairman of Ogun SUBEB, Professor Wahab Ogunyemi, during a special recognition programme organised to honour outstanding educators who have made significant contributions to the development of basic education in the state.

Ogunyemi said the board was committed to building a world-class basic education system that equips every child in Ogun State with the foundational literacy, numeracy, and critical thinking skills needed to succeed in an increasingly competitive and technology-driven world. He stressed that achieving that vision required placing highly trained, motivated, and professionally supported teachers in every classroom across the state's 20 local government areas.

"The teacher is the most important factor in the learning equation. You can build the most beautiful classrooms, distribute the most modern textbooks, and install the latest technology — but none of it matters if the teacher standing at the front of the room does not have the skills, the knowledge, and the passion to make learning come alive," Ogunyemi said. "That is why we are calling on our distinguished educators to help us build the next generation of teachers."

The recognition event, which brought together retired and serving educators from across the state, was designed to honour individuals who have dedicated decades of service to the development of basic education in Ogun State. Ogunyemi said the board believed that recognising excellence was not only a matter of fairness to those who had served but also a powerful way to inspire younger teachers by showing them what a life committed to education can achieve.

Several educators received awards and commendations for their outstanding contributions to curriculum development, teacher mentoring, school leadership, and educational innovation. The recipients expressed gratitude and several pledged to remain active contributors to the improvement of basic education in the state.

The SUBEB chairman used the occasion to detail the specific ways in which the board was hoping experienced educators would support the teacher training agenda. He said the board was expanding its network of teacher mentors — experienced professionals who work directly with younger teachers in classrooms to model effective teaching practices and provide personalised coaching and feedback.

Ogunyemi noted that traditional in-service training programmes, while valuable, often struggled to translate theoretical knowledge into sustainable classroom practice because teachers returned to their schools without ongoing support. The mentor model, he said, had shown significantly better results in improving teaching quality because it provides the consistent, personalised, and contextualised support that transforms a good workshop into lasting behavioural change.

The board also appealed to retired educators with expertise in specific subject areas — particularly literacy, numeracy, science, and technology — to volunteer as trainers and resource persons for the state's structured teacher development programmes. He said the experience and perspective that retired educators bring to training programmes is genuinely irreplaceable, combining deep pedagogical knowledge with a practical understanding of the unique challenges faced by teachers in Ogun State's schools.

Ogunyemi took the opportunity to provide an update on the broader reform agenda being pursued by Ogun SUBEB under the administration of Governor Dapo Abiodun, who has consistently described education as the most critical investment the state can make in its future.

He said the board had made significant progress in recent months in several key areas, including the rehabilitation and construction of school infrastructure, the distribution of learning materials, the deployment of digital learning tools to select schools, and the implementation of a new continuous assessment framework aligned with best practices in formative evaluation.

The board had also been working on an ambitious data-driven approach to tracking learning outcomes, he said, designed to give teachers, school heads, and policy makers real-time information about where children were struggling and what interventions were most effective. Ogunyemi said the approach was transforming the way the board allocated resources and designed support programmes, enabling a shift from uniform, one-size-fits-all approaches to more targeted and responsive interventions.

He also highlighted the board's focus on early childhood education, noting that the foundational years of a child's schooling have a disproportionate impact on their long-term academic trajectory. Ogun SUBEB had been working to expand access to quality pre-primary education and ensure that children entering Primary 1 arrived with the cognitive and social readiness needed to learn effectively.

Ogunyemi acknowledged the support of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Abuja, whose matching grants have helped the state fund many of its most significant infrastructure and programme investments. He called on the Federal Government to continue to increase its funding allocations for basic education and to support states in building the administrative and technical capacity needed to implement complex education reforms effectively.

He also acknowledged the contributions of international development partners, including UNICEF, the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), and the Education Crisis Response programme, which have provided technical assistance and financial support for various teacher development and learning improvement initiatives in the state.

Ogunyemi closed his remarks with a direct and personal appeal to the distinguished educators in the room, urging them to see their years of experience not as a legacy to be preserved in retirement but as a resource to be actively deployed in service of the next generation.

"You have given your working lives to education. But the need is still great. The children in our classrooms today need what you know. They need your wisdom, your patience, and your standards. We are asking you — please do not walk away from education when education still needs you," he said.

The event ended with commitments from several of the honourees to re-engage with the school system in mentoring, training, and advisory capacities, providing Ogun SUBEB with a renewed and experienced cadre of educators to support its ambitious reform agenda.