Madam Helen Chinwendu Okafor, a teacher who has spent 35 years working in different schools all throughout Lagos State, claims that she finds immense delight and honor in her line of work.
Mrs. Okafor, aka “The Great Mentor,” told Vanguard during her retirement party, which was thrown by family and friends, that she never got bored or felt bad about being a teacher.
After beginning her career as a teacher at Oluwa Primary School, she later worked at Wowo Primary School in Olodi-Apapa from 1995 to 1996 and Local Authority Primary School in Ajegunle from 1996 to 2009. She worked her way up through the ranks at Z.I Primary School, Olodi Apapa, to become the deputy director/school management in the Lagos State Ministry of Education.
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Speaking of her years as a teacher, Okafor explained: “Today is my retirement celebration after 35 years of service as a teacher in various capacities. I later became a deputy director/school manager at Reservation Primary School, Tolu Complex from 2019 until my retirement this year. So, you see, teaching is not just a passion, it gave me a lot of glory. It helped me in life, marriage, caring for the children, and a lot of good things I cannot recount.”
The former school manager while calling on the government to improve the welfare of teachers, advised teachers to give all in the discharge of their duties.
“The government needs to improve the lives of teachers by increasing their salaries. This will make them happy. And on the part of teachers, especially those on the field, my advice to them is to continue teaching the children using the four Cs – Communication, collaboration, Creativity and Critical thinking. When you use relevant materials to teach them, the children hardly forget. These give them the insight to move higher and make them adjust to life.”
On what is next after retirement, she said she would continue teaching till death.
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