A Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education, Ignatius Ajuru University of Education Rumuolumeni Port-Harcourt Rivers State Nigeria Professor Hellen Sokari Okujagu has recommended that Teachers should be the highest paid workers in all Countries.
She made the recommendation while delivering the 69th inaugural lecture of the University on Thursday August 14, 2025 at the university auditorium.
Her reasons for the recommendation span from teachers working under too much pressure to acting as mentors, guides, instilling resilience, adaptability and a growth mindset empowering children to embrace challenges and learn from failure, acquiring essential traits to become future inventors. She also elaborated that Teachers deserve convenience in their jobs and that their allowances should be such that they could afford the services specified. Their house allowance according to the 69th inaugural Lecturer should provide them a safe and comfortable living with priority given to their health on retirement and benefits worth the years of service. She advocated for their gratuities never to be compromised. They should reminisce and testify that it was nice being a child educator and they should negotiate standards.
Speaking on the topic “Yesterdays Toys, Tomorrow’s Tools: The Child Pedagogue Invents Inventors”, Professor Hellen Sokari Adox-Okujagu described the use of toys in child education as a supportive and necessary tool needed by the educator to create immersive and interactive learning experiences that foster creativity, critical thinking and problem solving skills.
This approach she explained does not only enhance the learning process but also encourages children to reason beyond existing rules and experiment with new ideas to develop innovative solutions. Childhood objects like pebbles, blocks, dolls, puzzles,cans, sand, construction sets and every day household items she emphasized are not merely sources of amusement but major tools that serve as essential requisites for vast occupations.
They are to her the foundational toys that provide the initial plan and building blocks for understanding the world, experimenting with concepts that deal with defining laws, maintaining health, restructuring environment and developing crucial cognitive and motor skills for humans of all ages and professions.
These early interactions the Professor of Early Childhood and Primary Education remarked lay the groundwork for the tools that future inventors utilise in their routine strategies for critical thinking, spatial reasoning, creativity, problem solving collaboration, producing the ability to iterate and learn from failure.
Yesterday’s toys, tomorrow’s tools according to the 69th inaugural Lecturer captures the essential elements of planned thoughtful teaching exploration highlighting how children naturally engage with concepts through hands on interaction and imaginative production under the guide of an experienced teacher with simple toys.
It emphasizes a learning environment where curiosity is not only encouraged but actively fostered through open ended activities and the freedom to explore possibilities without the fear of any malfunction of the tools in use.
The Child Pedagogue the University Don observed becomes a key figure in this transformative process with their role shifting from a traditional instructor to a facilitator of exploration, a nurturer of curiosity and a guide in the journey of discovery. She reiterated that by strategically leveraging fun based learning and fostering an environment that encourages experimentation, questioning and imaginative thinking, educators can adequately cultivate the mindset and skills necessary for future invention.
For Professor Hellen Sokari Adox-Okujagu, the focus is not only on the toys of yesterday becoming the tools of tomorrow, rather the emphasis is on the characteristics of the child Pedagogue who could effectively harness the child’s imagination into reality, nurture the innate curiosity to a level of acceptance and identify that tools in use for production were actively toys in class for purposeful learning. The child Pedagogue she stressed should possess specific skills, dispositions and didactical approaches that distinguish an educator capable of nurturing future inventors through the casual journey of dependence as a child to the stage of taking responsibility as adults in different fields of service.
A child educator who embodies qualities such as creativity, patience, empathy and a passion for learning can create a supportive and stimulating environment that allows children to flourish. The Child Pedagogue (Teacher) in the views of Professor Adox-Okujagu is not negligent, abusive, revengeful, ignorant, computer illiterate, modern technology non-compliant, gullible, money hungry, distracted, murderes of talent, apologetic about being teachers, instructors who dictate information, gatekeepers who stifle curiosity with rigid rules, solely focused on rote memorization instead the child Pedagogue is a guide, facilitator, co-explorers in the exciting journey of discovery.
The Former Associate Dean Faculty of Education urged educators to embrace the potentials of toys and technology as tools for cultivating creativity in children and aim to connect model based learning with real world applications. Furthermore, educators should wake up to the exciting possibilities of Artificial intelligence in toy design while simultaneously fostering the next generation of inventors which requires a multi-pronged approach that blends inspiration, information and practical engagement.
She called for the intentional not ceremonial training of teachers in comfortable environment where they are provided safety and security with adequate training materials for the exercise.
While pointing out that the education system from the nursery, primary, secondary to tertiary institutions does not have adequate child educators, she noted that about 85% of individuals at these levels assume the responsibility to teach in both public and private sectors as a stepping stone with the creed “Let me manage here till I find a better job” adding that such persons only ruin the system rather than contribute to its success.
In his speech, the Acting Vice Chancellor of IAUE Professor Okechuku Onuchuku commended the 69th inaugural Lecturer for ensuring that everyone benefited from her wealth of experience in the teaching profession. He noted that the toys that she displayed are practical ways of teaching and ensuring that children asimilate lessons taught.
Professor Onuchuku urged other Lecturers not to belittle themselves but to set standards, live above board knowing that they train people of all walks of life. He also urged relevant bodies to implement recommendations made by Professor Hellen Sokari Adox-Okujagu.
Reacting the Registrar of IAUE Dr Chinonye Abraham Ajie described the lecture as a five star presentation while the Dean Faculty of Humanities Professor Ibiere Ken-Maduako thanked everyone who graced the occasion.
