The High Chief Dr. Government Ekpemupolo established Tompolo Foundation is set to end the dearth of teachers in Gbaramatu Kingdom, Warri South-West Local Government Area of Delta State, as the Foundation moves to engage primary and secondary school teachers for communities in the riverine kingdom.

This is coming as the Gbaramatu Youth Council, GYC, led by its President, Mr. Egbejule Arerebo Kingsley, concludes its recruitment exercise of over 200 applicants at the defunct Egbema Gbaramatu Communities Development Foundation's (EGCDF) office in Warri, an exercise that held from Friday, October 11, to Saturday, October 12, 2024.

The recruitment exercise which was thrown open to interested applicants saw graduates from across the state and even the National Youth Service Corps members (popularly referred to as corpers) applied for teaching positions.

Among the resource persons that presided over the exercise include a retired teacher who acted as the team lead, Chief Wellington Uduboh and other personalities from the kingdom among whom are Mrs. Endurance Bekenawei Nwachukwu, Dr. Paul Boyitie, Bracade Barry Fiemotongha, Mackson Ode Esq., Elekute Macaulay, Mayor Ipopo Present, and Governor Ekpokeme.

The two-day screening exercise saw resource persons engaged with applicants to separate the chaff from the wheat in order to get the most suitable candidates to fill available positions, which according to the GYC President ranges between 80 to 90 teachers that are needed.

"This exercise is one of my keynote during my campaign of election," said Mr. Arerebo, the GYC President, during the screening exercise. "In Gbaramatu, we are lacking teachers. Our younger ones are suffering because there are no teachers. The government teachers posted there always come with excuses, maybe because of high transport fares and others. So, the students really need extra hands for we to bring the schools to the standard obtained in the urban area," he stressed.

Also buttressing the GYC President position, its Secretary, Comr. Erike Raphael said, "This exercise is coming in quickly after the fallout of the GYC educational tour in Gbaramatu Kingdom. We engaged stakeholders, institutions, even the king and meaningful people because the state of education in the kingdom is deteriorating, so there's a need for more teachers.

"So it's part of our recommendation that we employ more teachers after we went round the schools and found out that the major problem is lack of teachers. So we want to bring up the schools in Gbaramatu Kingdom to the urban standard," Comr. Erike added.

Adding his views on the exercise, the chairman of Gbaramatu Lawyers Forum, Emotimide Friday Esq. welcomed the idea of the recruitment and said that "The exercise is actually a system to engage our youths, the unemployed youth, in what they can do best. Also, it's a means to encourage the government in employment in the country. Also, it's a tripartite thing, both government and the society, and individual and corporate bodies, to make employment, at least to make the society meaningful."

On the exercise, the team lead, Chief Uduboh said the educational project, which is laudable, will boost the educational standard by enhancing learning process of students, and also noted that the project will further boost the quality of students from Gbaramatu that will apply to the Nigerian Maritime University (NMU), Okerenkoko, as the abundance of teachers will prepare them academically for the future since the lack of teachers is negatively affecting performance.

Arising from concerns by stakeholders that the recruitment of community-based teachers to help bridge the gap of insufficient government teachers and their absenteeism will make the latter redundant, the GYC President stated that such a scenario will not materialise.

"We are also working with the government teachers. It's not a situation that because of the people we are employing, the government teachers will not do their work; no! They are going to work hand-to-hand. Whatever we are doing, we also look into the government teachers too, how to encourage, motivate them to meet up with the economic situation in the country.

"As I said earlier before, concerning the government teachers, we are going to motivate them. But if I'm motivating them, they have to also comply to own own instructions too. If I'm giving them, say N5,000k to assist them, then they have to be at their place of work. When you are not there, then you are inviting problems to yourself. So, the two group, we are going to segment them," he explained.

On the funding of the project, Mr Arerebo noted that finances is in place and that its sustainability is contained in its submitted report where the GYC made a recommendation for the establishment of a Gbaramatu Educational Trust Fund to help shore up funds for the promotion of educational activities in the riverine kingdom.

He advised parents, especially those who are in the habit of preventing their wards from attending school by sending them in errands during school hours, to desist from such and to key into the project by ensuring their wards are punctual in school inorder to benefit.

#penglobalcommunity #GYC #education #Gbaramatu #Delta