Experts caution schools on teachers’ recruitment


Image result for sexual predatorsEnugu State Police Command arrested the head teacher of a primary school in the Enugu-Ezike area of the state, Mr Nathaniel Idoko, for defiling four female pupils between the ages of five and six. Idoko blamed his crime on ‘Satan’.

From 2013 to date, there have been at least 19 reported cases of teachers sexually assaulting their pupils. A total of 39 pupils; 35 girls and five boys, across eight states were raped, ‘fingered’ or sodomised. One of the predators had defiled as many as seven girls. News reports claimed that one of the victims was even infected with a sexually transmitted disease.

The children, aged between two and 14 years at the time, were pupils of private schools, except one public school in Epe, Lagos State. Most of the incidents took place in the schools’ premises, save for two occuring in either the victim’s residence or that of the accused.

New U.S. Visa Policy Affects International Students


F-1 student visa

Updates to regulation 8 CFR 103.2(b)(8) will take effect on September 11, 2018, but what exactly is this regulation? In short, this is the regulation that determines the criteria for USCIS to issue a Request for Evidence (RFE) or Notice of Intent to Deny (NOID) if you do not provide all the necessary visa information up front. In addition, the new policy memo gives the USCIS adjudicator “full discretion to deny applications, petitions, or requests” without requesting additional evidence.

This means that it is important to get your visa application right the first time, and to include all of the necessary information and documents upon filing.

How Will the New Visa Policy Affect International Students?

For F-1 student visa applicants and visa holders, the policy could have an impact at the initial visa interview. You could also be affected you if you are applying for:

  • Work authorization based on economic hardship: If you are experiencing extreme economic hardship, you may apply to USCIS for authorization to work off campus.
  • Reinstatement: If you allow your F-1 visa to become out-of-status, then you must apply for reinstatement to regain valid status.

Nigeria’s education curriculum can’t achieve anything in 21st Century — Sen Emodi


Founder of Brickhall School, Abuja, Senator Joy Emodi, has faulted current Nigeria’s education curriculum, saying it lacks the necessary ingredients required in the 21st Century.

Madam Emordi Emodi insisted that what the federal government was parading at the moment as education curriculum can never drive the country towards achieving what it should achieve as a country in the 21st century. The former senator, who represented Anambra North Senatorial District between 2005 and 2010, spoke Sunday at an event planned by Brickhall School to honour Mrs Uchenna Onwamaegbu-Ugwu, founder of Edufun Technik STEM Center, following the winning of the 2018 Technovation World Pitch in California, USA, by the five secondary schoolgirls she mentored in her company.

Lagos 2018 Recruitment Of 2,200 Teachers Into Primary & Secondary Schools


Lagos State Government on Wednesday said it is set to recruit over two thousand teachers into its primary and secondary schools.

The recruited teachers will be posted to government-owned primary and secondary schools across the 20 local governments and 37 local council development areas in the State.

“Lagos State Government is set to recruit 1,000 Teachers for Primary and 1,200 for Secondary Schools, visit from 12 a.m, Friday, 31st August, to 12 Midnight, Thursday, September 6, 2018,” Lagos government tweeted.

The state governor Akinwunmi Ambode had earlier announced the approval of recruiting the teachers at the last quarterly Town Hall meeting at Ibeju Lekki area of the State.

Ambode had promised that his administration would employ more teachers into public schools to meet up with the manpower required to cover all public schools in the State.

Also at the meeting, the Deputy Governor Idiat Adebule development stated that the recruitment will aid teaching and learning in the public schools.

She added that government owned schools has been attracting more enrollment in the last three years as a result of the improved infrastructure and welfare of teaching and non-teaching staff.

NYSC redeploys corps members


A total of 700 out of 1,289 members of the National Youth Service Corps serving in Borno State have been redeployed.

The NYSC Coordinator in Borno State, Alhaji Rabiu Katsina, disclosed this in a meeting with journalists held on Monday in Katsina, capital of Katsina State, after the closing ceremony of the three-week orientation exercise for the 2018 Batch ‘B’ corps members in the state.

Katsina said the corps members were redeployed due to challenges ranging from insecurity and ill-health to marital issues. He said, “We cannot stop the corps members who seek redeployment for health reasons. We have to release them to their respective parents who will continue to take care of them. The same thing applies to female corps members who are married. This is strictly on compassionate grounds.”

The coordinator also said that Borno had decided to pay various monthly allowances to corps members, aside from the normal monthly allowance paid to them by the NYSC, as an incentive to encourage those deployed to the state.

He said, “Borno State now pays N100,000 monthly allowance to corps members who are doctors and N50,000 monthly allowance to corps members who are paramedics, including nurses and physiotherapists.

Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso currently on warning strike.


The Academic Staff Union of Universities has called on Governor Abiola Ajimobi of Oyo State and his Osun State counterpart, Governor Rauf Aregbesola, to tell the public if they want to liquidate the  Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso or not.

The Zonal Coordinator of ASUU, Ibadan Zone, Dr Ade Adejumo, who said this at a briefing held in Osogbo on Monday, said that LAUTECH lecturers were currently on a two- week warning strike to press home their demand for proper funding of the university.

Adejumo said the problem of the university had deteriorated from poor funding to no funding, saying the actions of the two states were aimed at destroying the institution.

The Technical University, Ibadan, Oyo State, has been renamed


Image result for tech-uThe change of name was made known in a statement issued by the management of the university through its spokesperson, Mr. Femi Babatunde, and made available to our correspondent on Monday.

According to the statement, the amendment, however, does not in anyway affect the current status of the university as a wholly public-owned university.

The statement partly reads, “Being Nigeria’s pioneer technical university, the addition of the word ‘First’ to the former rendering of the name is deemed necessary to reassert the unique leadership position of the institution in the nation’s tertiary education space and beyond.

“Also, the recent amendment provides legal authority for Tech-U to receive grants and to enter into partnerships with public or private sources, other than the Oyo State Government. Consequently, Tech-U may now solicit and invite private partners to invest in the university, its programmes and objectives.

Osinbajo to launch Smart Classrooms, Digital Education Project


The Federal Government has begun moves to establish a digital education institute and provide smart learning classrooms across the country as a way of boosting investments in the Information and Communication Technology ICT. The project, which will be officially launched Tuesday in Abuja by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN will serve as a model technology-based classroom. This was disclosed in a statement by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals SDGs, Princess Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, released Monday by her Media Assistant, Desmond Utomwen. According to the SDGs boss, the Smart Classrooms and Digital Education initiative, will be implemented in partnership with a Chinese Digital Technology giant, NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited and is in line with the commitment of the government to continue to provide quality education to Nigerian children as stipulated in Goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals. SDGs.

Experts blame overworked examiners


Following the release of the 2018 West African Secondary School Certificate Examination on Wednesday, experts have expressed worry over the decline in performance from 59.22 per cent in 2017 to 49.98 per cent credit passes and above this year.

The council’s Head of National Office, Mr. Olu Adenipekun, had said the 49.98 per cent represented 786,016 out of 1,572,396 candidates who sat for the examination.

He said, “858,424 other candidates obtained credits and above in a minimum of five subjects, including English Language, but without Mathematics.”

Reacting to the disclosure, experts blamed the decline in overall performance on the large number of scripts examiners had to mark, which, they argued, affected thoroughness.

 

NANS speaks on sack of OAU lecturer


The National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), has lauded the Senate of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife for relieving a lecturer, Prof. Richard Akindele of his duty for involving in a sex scandal.

DAILY POST reports that the Obafemi Awolowo University sacked Professor Richard Akindele for allegedly demanding sex from Monica Osagie to upgrade her mark.

The NANS’ National Public Relations Officer, Mr Bestman Okereafor, made this remark in a statement on Thursday in Enugu.

Okereafor said that NANS believed that sacking the lecturer was in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to the fight against all forms of Human Rights abuse within government and its institutions.

He said that it would serve as a deterrent to other lecturers, who might be nurturing similar habit or already indulging in such misconduct on campuses across the federation.

Okereafor said that NANS implored the university to as a matter of urgency, prosecute the lecturer in a court of competent jurisdiction to face the full wrath of the law.

According to him, NANS is also calling on the female students to shun indecent dressing within and outside the campuses so that they can always protect the dignity of motherhood.

“The leadership of the over 40.1 million Nigerian students both at home and the diaspora under the auspices of NANS, salutes the authority of OAU for its decision,’’ he said.