The Teachers Reality Show continues to gain acceptance as teachers have clamour for more push by the Federal Government for continuous quality and accessible education for all Nigerians.
The 2022 Teachers Naija Reality TV Show was organised by the ANUB Media Ltd. in Abuja.
One of the participating teachers from St. James African Church Primary School, Akinola Obafemi Owode, Mr Wua Nsughve called on the government to focus on rural schools to motivate the teachers.
Nsughve said the show is a great platform to encourage Nigerian teachers and recognise them in their various works and experiences they go through in the course of discharging their duties and their services in their respective places of assignments.
According to him, teachers in the rural communities found it difficult to get such a platform regardless of location and economic backgrounds, adding that the work of a teacher was to build a modern society for the greater good of the nation.
The work of a teacher to the growth of a nation and community cannot be overemphasised. Over the years, there has been the general notion even among teachers that they are not regarded in the society.Teachers tend to be treated as though not really matter in the society as much as there’s a whole lot of people out there who come with testimonies of how their lives are transformed by virtue of the quality of work in the course of teaching them.
So the teachers reality TV show is a platform opened to any teacher by virtue of his location the opportunity to be showcased,” he said.
Furthermore, Nsughve said the reality show had a lot of value and learning it could give to Nigerians.
He also called for sponsorship of the show to get more attention than some counterpart shows that do not portray moral values.
He lauded the organisers of the show for giving teachers a platform that could help impact on the general lives of the citizenry.
Therefore, he appealed to the government to prioritise the teaching profession while giving attention to rural teachers.
So, I think government should prioritise the role of teachers because the teachers in a local community tends to automatically become one of the leaders of the entire community.They tend to become the only source of valid information that the community has access to, become the only light for the children.
If the status of teachers are upgraded, naturally there will be motivation for others out there. When you go to classes, you find it easy for students to say I want to become a doctor when I grow up, I want to become a pilot.But you have to find ways students will be proud to say they want to become a teacher. Also, teachers in rural communities tend to be neglected.These communities tend to be absolutely out of reach of basic amenities. Government need to focus more on upgrading the status of rural teachers, he added.
However, Nsughve said that the show had developed the mental and emotional capacity of the teachers as task in the area of transfer of knowledge and puzzle were given to show how they could cope while embarking on their role as teachers.
Miss Precious Osemwonta, from Nawarudeen Primary School, Obafemi Owode, Ogun State, evicted from the first week of the show.
Mr Enuagwuna Ubaka, the Managing Director, ANUB Media Ltd, who is also the Convener of the TV show said the aim of the programme was to improve the teachers’ value in the society.
Also, Ubaka added that the theme of the third edition of the reality show tagged: ‘ The Smart Teacher’, was to change the impression some people had saying teaching profession was the poorest vocation.
According to him, the show is developed to positively showcase teachers and promote the worth of the profession in Nigeria.
First of all, the theme for this season’s is a smart teacher. So that means for you to come into the show, you must be a smart teacher, a teacher that should be able to think.A teacher that is able to create something out of nothing, a teacher that is able to work under pressure and a teacher that’s all encompassing.You know, what a lot of teachers focus on is just to go into the classroom, deliver their lesson and the other thing is not a concern to them. So to get a versatile teacher, it shows that that teacher knows a bit of almost everything.So those are the kind of teachers that we were looking for, before they got into the house, there were a lot of tasks we gave to them. So you have to be a smart teacher to participate in the show, he said.
The programme started in 2019 and could not hold in 2020, because of COVID19 pandemic, but resumed the second season in 2021.
He said that the show has made a huge impact in the lives of teachers.
Therefore, he said that the show had large viewership as it is shown on the National Television Authority (NTA), and social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
He, further lauded the Federal Ministry of Education, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and the Institute of Educational practitioners in UK for their partnership to make the show a success, as well as its sponsors.
Miss Precious Osemwonta, from Nawarudeen Primary School, Obafemi Owode, Ogun State, who was the evicted teacher said she never believed she would be evicted in the first week of the show as she had high expectations to finish through to the end
According to Osemwonta, she believed that the individual task as well as the group task cumulatively were responsible for her eviction, while promising to prepare hard for the next season of the show.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said that the show commenced on Oct. 22 with 19 contestants and would run through to Nov. 20.
However, with the eviction of a contestant, the show is left with 18 contestants to jostle for the best three winners who would go home with outstanding cash prizes.