Gideon Ogungeyimi has emerged winner of 2020 ‘Most Outstanding Lockdown Teacher Competition’, organised by Educational Aid Global Initiative (Edu-Aid).
Gideon Ogungeyimi is an alumni of Teach for Nigeria (TFN), a non-government organisation.
A fellow of TFN, Precious Adegunle, also emerged first runner-up in the competition, which was organised to reward selflessness, creativity and innovation among teachers who ensured learning continued during the coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown.
Teachers who applied for the contest were required to submit a one-minute video detailing their works, which were later assessed to determine the winners.
According to the award organisers, Gideon Ogungeyimi was able develop a “Learn at Home” model to engage his students during the lockdown.
According to Edu-Aid:
“Under the Learn at Home model, Gideon created and printed worksheets in English and Mathematics which were delivered to the doorstep of his pupils and collected at a later date for assessments. He also launched ‘Project Feed100’ with two other Fellows, which provided low-income families with financial palliatives to cater for their children’s education, feeding and health needs.”
Precious, on her part, was said to raise funds to purchase tablets for her students and began a project to digitise the Nigerian curriculum in indigenous languages, particularly Yoruba.
According to Edu-Aid:
“She preinstalled these educational contents and also included games, movies, books and worksheets to encourage continued learning for her pupils. Precious went further to distribute these tablets to her pupils for free.”
Commenting, CEO, Teach For Nigeria, Folawe Omikunle, said:
“We are tremendously proud to see not only the winner of this contest emerge from TFN, but also the first runner-up. This is evident of the leadership quality that exists in our teacher leaders.
The pandemic widened the gap of inequity, and as leaders who understand the challenges in underserved schools, our teacher leaders did not only identify the challenges, but they also displayed a great sense of responsibility and agency in responding urgently to ensure that learning didn’t stop despite the school closure. We are inspired to see the possibilities of the future of education beyond the classrooms within low-income communities.”
