Maltina Teacher of the Year Awardees Complete Transformative Training in Finland

Demonstrating its dedication to Nigeria’s advancement, the Nigerian Breweries Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund has honored its pledge by sponsoring five distinguished educators, previous recipients of the Maltina Teacher of the Year Award, to partake in an enriching professional development program in Tampere, Finland. The beneficiaries of this initiative are Olasunkanmi Opeifa, Olubunmi Anani, Abanika Taiye, Alaku Ayiwulu, and Adeola Adefemi, who have all made significant contributions to the teaching profession.

The capacity development training, which was held between Monday, May 20, 2024, and Thursday, May 30, 2024, is part of the prize for the competition winners. The teachers were taken through different modules of practical-based teaching skills.

Speaking on the training, the Chairman, Nigerian Breweries Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, Mr. Hans Essaadi, explained that the training was organised to expose the teachers to modern teaching methods that are productive and positively impactful to the society at large.

Essaadi stated that the programme is designed to upskill and maximise the capacity of the teachers to enable them to deliver effectively in a way that would impact and improve the performance of students.

In their remarks, the past winners of the competition expressed profound appreciation to the management of Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund for making the opportunity a big reality. They described the experience as an eye-opener, which has further enhanced their skills not only in teaching but also in leadership.

The 2023 winner of the competition, Adeola Adefemi, stated that the training has been comprehensive and fulfilling with a pledge to deploy her experience for the transformation of the future of education in Nigeria. Sharing the same sentiment, Alaku Ayiwulu, the Maltina Teacher of the Year 2022, praised the capacity-building training as a truly transformative exercise that offered him firsthand experience on different approaches to learning as well as the significance of student-centred collaboration.

In his view, Abanika Taiye, the 2021 winner, described the experience as one that creates a conscious and consistent practice of collaborative and cooperative learning. On her part, Olubunmi Anani, who won the competition in 2020, expressed the differences in Nigerian and Finnish education, stating that while the former is focused on rote learning, the latter emphasises equipping students with the wherewithal to become independent thinkers, creative doers, and innovative contributors.

Olasunkanmi Opeifa, the 2019 winner of the competition, explained that the experience throughout the capacity training has been illuminating. Opeifa believes that the structure of education in Finland is worth adopting, considering the emphasis placed on trust, autonomy, creativity, and collaboration.

Citing his readiness to domesticate the experience by applying it not only in the area of leadership but also in pedagogy, he stated that the Nigerian educational system has a lot to learn from its Finnish counterpart.

Since its inception in 2015, the Maltina Teacher of the Year Competition has been a beacon of excellence in education, supported by the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, established in 1994. This initiative aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG NO.4.), aiming to significantly impact Nigeria’s educational landscape by fostering a culture of continuous learning and innovation among educators.