….. Says ANCOPSS Boss.
Akaiso Eyo-Akaiso, Uyo.
As the outgoing chairman of All Nigerian Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom State is stepping out to assume a higher office in Abuja in a little time from now, he has described the 279 principals of both secondary and technical schools under his watch as 21st century teachers.
According to him, they have been adequately trained to manage any contemporary issues in schools such as ICT robotics, artificial intelligence, climate change, use of social media by the students and insecurity, etc.
In a chat with our correspondent in his office at Christian Secondary school, Uyo, where he is currently the principal, the chairman of All Nigerian Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools in Akwa Ibom, Mr. Steve Akpabio took a cursory look at his performances while his tenure lasted.
Hear him: “Under my leadership, ANCOPSS mobilized all principals to identify with it and inturn raised their voices to the highest level, both regionally and nationally. We encouraged principals to pay dues to boost the financial position of ANCOPPSS to assist fellow principals in time of difficulty. In short, we had identified with four families of dead principals by paying the deceased families N1m each.
And in each of the burials, we took care of refreshment of principals as we wouldn’t want a kobo from the N1m to be spent on that. We also paid N500,000 to family of a principal in Oruk Anam local government who was kidnapped in 2022, to rehabilitate him on release from captivity.
ANCOPSS under my leadership has participated in a lot of curriculum developments in schools in Akwa Ibom State so that we have uniformity and effective learning of the new subjects such as Digital technology now replacing Computer and Data processing in line with 35 states and Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria.
Other newly introduced subjects which we liaised with the state government agencies to bring to schools included Nigerian History, Intermediate Science, Solar Installation, and Civic and Heritage Studies.”
Speaking further on self development to update principals to compete favourably with their counterparts in developed climes, he said: “we encouraged them to attend conferences organized yearly and participate effectively in what we call MCPT to build capacity and equip them for the future challenges.”
Thanking Governor Eno and his fellow principals for their cooperation and cordial relationship that has existed between the ANCOPSS and the state government during his administration, he confirmed that government is not owing the 279 public schools in the state, adding that all subventions and fees have been paid to date.
On the new policy on textbooks, he said Federal government has only streamlined the policy on use of textbooks, but has not introduced new textbooks, to ensure that schools, public or private, no longer use customized textbooks that will expire with the first user.
“Federal government has given directive no textbooks be customized. Recommended regular textbooks that will pass down to generations so that parents are not compelled to buy books every season,” adding that, “government also streamlined expensive send off and graduation ceremonies in primary and secondary schools.
In the final analysis, he threw his weight behind introduction of computer based learning at both primary and secondary levels, but advised government to take action to provide security to ward off miscreants from vandalizing the items.
