Recently, The Association of Private Educators in Nigeria (APEN) held its 8th Annual Conference tagged “Inspire, Develop, Connect: Reinventing the Learning Space.” The three days conference took place at The Honeywell Auditorium, Lagos Business School, Pan-Atlantic University, KM 22 Lekki Epe Expressway, Nigeria.
The Plenary Speakers who imparted at the conference were British High Commissioner, Dr Doyin Salami, Mrs AdenikeAdeyemi, Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha and Dr Tunji Abimbola. However, The Association of Private Educators in Nigeria (APEN) was founded in 2002. It represents the interests of private schools in Nigeria.
APEN has a membership of schools which range in size from 20 to 2000 students. All the member schools have an international focus. Through programmes and services, APEN provides for the varying needs of nearly 20,000 students and about 2,500 teachers and administrators.
One of the participants, a valued educator, Omotola Adewole explained that the programme has given her a wider knowledge and exposure on happenings in a school environment. She also said that the programme has broadened her knowledge about the teaching profession. In addition, she commended the organisers: “it was excellently and properly planned but the brochure next time should include course content to give a broader view on each training. We eventually picked courses that aren’t relevant to our field. Aside that, everything was perfect.”
Speaking with another participant, a prominent educational instructor, Richard Anigboro, he explained that the programme was a great one. He said that the programme has exposed him to different experiences in the teaching field:
“the programme exposed me to different experiences in the teaching profession. The programme was indeed educative and highly inspiring. It was a very good one for me.”
As part of the feedback from the event, Denis Ukpong, a school administrator explained that the programme gave him a room to think wider in his field. He further stated “more teachers should enroll for the next one because there are more to be learned as a teacher.” Also, he commended the organisers of the programme but insisted that such valued programmes should also be extended to the public teaching sector.
In addition, APEN is also an independent charity focused on supporting low income and government schools in Nigeria, in a bid to support the Nigerian government in realizing its developmental goals, which complements the mission to improve the learning environment of schools in the Nigerian community.
The programme ended successfully as many educators left with bountiful knowledge on better teaching and learning procedures. However, some educators urge the association to frequently organise such trainings. They believe that a frequent one will help the ever willing educators to impart greatly.
