The wife of Abia Governor, Mrs. Nkechi Ikpeazu, has commended the Seventh Day Adventist Church for its contributions towards human capital development in the state.
Mrs. Ikpeazu, made the commendation on the occasion of 2ND, Teachers Summit organised by the education department of the Eastern Nigeria Union Conference of the Church at the church headquarters, Abayi Umueze, Aba, Abia state.
The Governor’s wife said that, it is thing of joy that to know that the church has as many as 77, primary schools, 6, secondary schools, 426, teachers and over 12,000 students and pupils being raised by the church.
According to the Governor’s wife, “if we can positively influence these number of people through our education system, we would populated the heavenly Kingdom ”
“As teachers, we must show the way by not only giving head knowledge but also model good example for our students to emulate ” she said.
However, Mrs. Ikpeazu, advised that as teachers, we must not forget that God is the source of all knowledge and we must give him his proper place as we teach those entrusted to our care.
In his address, the Abia State Commissioner for Basic Education, Chief Ukwu Rocks Emma, said that the theme of the summit ‘ I will Go Modelling the Everlasting Gospel in the Classroom ‘ speaks volume about the church resolve to contribute to a positive and holistic re-engineering of Abia education architecture.
The education commissioner, maintained that by church action towards education development, they have advertently touched the nerve centre of Governor Ikpeazu ‘s pillar of development.
According to him, “Our focus in education is not just to churn out graduates with certificate, rather it is to produce employable graduates who are qualified in character and learning to advance the society ” he said.
Earlier in his speech, the President, Eastern Nigeria Union Conference of the SDA, Pastor Bassey E Udo, stated that the recognises God as the ultimate source of existence, truth and power.
Udo explained that true education is to restore man to the image of God as revealed by the life of Jesus Christ and encouraged the teachers to maintain the track.
According to him, “the Adventist school system is one of the largest Christian education system of the world” Udo said.
In her remarks, the Education Director of ENUC, Dr. Yetunde E Alozie, explained that this year summit is focused on recognising the teaching profession as a calling, a profession set aside and singled out by God as gift.
Yetunde maintained that there is no better way to gauge our teaching abilities than finding out how Jesus taught, that we may carry same to our classrooms.
However, Yetunde added that teachers are to be the light on the developmental part of their students and only as they model the Everlasting gospel in their classroom shall they impact their lives and restore them to the image of their Maker.
