Teachers must epitomise character, charisma, says Egbeyemi

There is a compelling need for the curricula of teacher training institutes to be repackaged to accommodate teachers’ personality courses in its training programmes, so says Director of TLS School, Ikoyi Lagos, Mrs. Bunmi Egbeyemi.

This is because, teachers as role models are expected to have strong personalities, which would enable them to eliminate undesirable elements in the realm of their character.

Speaking to The Guardian on the sidelines of the 2015/2016 graduation ceremony of the school, Egbeyemi argued that since personality is the sum total of the qualities of character, mind and body that makes an individual different from others, every teacher must, in addition to their qualifications, ensure they are people with great charisma.

She regretted that much effort is concentrated on teaching the courses and providing the practical experiences required of a teacher, at the expense of teachers personality, carriage and conduct.

She said, “At TLS we define what we want as a school. We cannot achieve the purpose of education, if we do not have competent teachers to deliver our contents. In recruiting teachers here, we look at the total package and the charisma of the individual involved. Even when they have qualifications without charisma and culture of discipline, we will not accept such persons.

“So, our teachers training institutes must include personality courses in their curricula and make their trainees understand that children learn from what they see. Teaching is an all-encompassing profession, which must be respected, therefore teachers must be extensively grounded in character and self-worth to be able to impact on students,” she submitted.

She further stated that every teacher that is worthy of his/her calling must continuously look for ways to improve self and be coordinated so as to command respect at all times.

Charging policy makers to ensure adequate training of teachers in the country, she stressed that with the right exposure, good remuneration and regular training, Nigerian teachers can compete with their peers across the globe.

In emphasising the benefits of regular training and retraining of teachers, she said, “Continuous self- development is a sine-qua-non to achieving the purpose of education.

To show the importance we attach to our teachers, there would be no summer coaching this holiday in our school. We will use this holiday to expand our teacher training programmes for all our teachers.

“In as much as the school is thriving, it is our duty to continue to brace up for higher academic challenges since the world is evolving. In preparing for the wellbeing of our pupils, we would invest massively in teachers/staff training this season,” she said.