Five MTOY Past Winners Undergo Capacity Training in Finland

Uchechukwu Nnaike

In line with its commitment to Nigeria’s socio-economic development, the Nigerian Breweries Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund has fulfilled its promise and sponsored five past winners of the Maltina Teacher of the Year Competition to Tampere, Finland for capacity development training. The past winners: Olasunkanmi Opeifa, Olubunmi Anani, Abanika Taiye, Alaku Ayiwulu, and Adeola Adefemi.

The training, which held from May 20-30, 2024, is part of the prize for the winners. The teachers were taken through different modules of practical-based teaching skills.

The Chairman of Nigerian Breweries Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, Mr. Hans Essaadi, explained that the training was meant to expose the teachers to productive teaching methods that positively impact society at large.

Essaadi stated that the programme was 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.

The beneficiaries thanked the management of Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund for the opportunity and described the experience as an eye-opener that has enhanced their skills not only in teaching but also in leadership.

The 2023 winner, Adeola Adefemi, stated that the training had been comprehensive and fulfilling, and she pledged to deploy her experience to transform the future of education in Nigeria. Alaku Ayiwulu, the 2022 winner, described the training as a truly transformative exercise that offered him firsthand experience of different approaches to learning and the significance of student-centred collaboration.

Abanika Taiye, the 2021 winner, described the experience as one that creates a conscious and consistent practice of collaborative and cooperative learning.

Olubunmi Anani, who won the competition in 2020, said while Nigerian education is focused on rote learning, Finnish education emphasises equipping students with the wherewithal to become independent thinkers, creative doers, and innovative contributors.

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

Citing his readiness to domesticate the experience by applying it in leadership and pedagogy, he stated that the Nigerian education system has much to learn from its Finnish counterpart.

The Maltina Teacher of the Year Competition was established in 2015 and funded through the Nigerian Breweries-Felix Ohiwerei Education Trust Fund, which was set up in 1994 to facilitate an active contribution to the development of the education sector in Nigeria, in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4).