No fewer than 100 public school teachers in Enugu State are receiving training on entrepreneurship organized by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN).

Newsmen report that the three-day workshop was organised under the Mind Shift – National School Entrepreneurship Programme (NSEP) 2021.

In a message to the event, the Director General of SMEDAN, Mr Dikko Radda, said that the programme, a brainchild of the agency, was aimed at building the capacity of primary and secondary school teachers.

Radda was represented at the event by the acting Director, Partnership and Coordination of the SMEDAN, Mrs Lynda Pepple.

He said that under the scheme, the beneficiaries would be armed with the requisite knowledge they needed to inculcate in their pupils and students the passion for entrepreneurial development.

The director general said that the programme was being implemented in collaboration with the Enugu State Ministry of Education and its Commerce and Industry counterpart.

He said that the two ministries would provide the platform for the pupils and students to have hands-on experience in entrepreneurship training.

“This phase is designed to enhance the capacity of the teachers who will in turn prepare the pupils/students and convert them into entrepreneurs.

“After the training, all participating schools are expected to create entrepreneurship clubs/school enterprises,” he said.

Radda said that the programme would assuage the anxiety among Nigerian students about their future because of dearth of job opportunities in the labour market.

He said that no fewer than 300 primary and secondary schools in 15 states had been engaged and benefited from the programme since 2018.

He also said that the programme improved the capacities of 600 teachers and 300 mentors within the same period.

“This year, the programme will take place in 12 states of the federation with 100 teachers and education officers per state,” he said,

Radda mentioned the states to include Enugu, Kano, Zamfara, Plateau, Niger, Taraba, Gombe, Oyo, Osun, Abia, Rivers and Bayelsa.

“The state is expected to take ownership of this programme and step it down to all the primary and secondary schools,” Radda said.

In a keynote address, Gov. Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi of Enugu State, said that the programme aligned with the empowerment scheme of his administration.

Ugwuanyi, who was represented by the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eze, said that technical colleges in the state were producing students who could be self reliant as well as create jobs.

The governor said that the programme would re-enforce efforts by his administration to make schools in the state engage in active learning.

TodayNG