Teach For Nigeria Commences Seventh Cohort of Its Fellowship

Uchechukwu Nnaike

Teach For Nigeria, a non-profit organisation focused on building a movement of leaders committed to improving foundational learning outcomes and life opportunities for low-income children in Nigeria, has announced the launch of the seventh cohort of its fellowship.

The Teach For Nigeria Fellowship programme is a two-year full-time paid commitment that is designed to build a movement of leaders who will work towards eliminating educational inequity by teaching in under-served schools in low-income communities across Nigeria. The selected fellows will be posted to teach students in under-resourced schools across Lagos and Ogun States.

The 2023 fellowship, themed ‘Find Your Purpose: Discover Your Leadership’, is targeted at young leaders committed to tackling Nigeria’s foundational learning challenge in underserved primary schools.

Speaking at the recruitment launch, the CEO of Teach For Nigeria, Folawe Omikunle, said the organisation is committed to building a nationwide movement of leaders to provide an excellent, equitable education to all Nigerian children.

“Through our two-year fellowship, we are driving long-term systemic change. Our fellows are placed in underserved schools to work relentlessly to transform the lives of their students,” said Omikunle. “We also train, equip and support them through a combination of pre-service training and ongoing support. We are about to usher in a new set of leaders in the educational sector and we are excited to begin the process of inspiring leaders.”

According to Omikunle, the programme continues to serve as a private-sector-led solution to bridge the learning gap and address the education inequity in Nigeria, and it is open to outstanding young professionals, including non-teachers and existing teachers interested in being part of the movement to end educational inequity in the country.

A 2019 TFN alumnus and guest speaker at the event, Daniel Ochekwu, said his two years as a fellow at TFN made him grow exponentially.

“It helped me learn more about life and improved my ability to empathise, identify and solve problems. Teach For Nigeria supports you to run with your innovations beyond the fellowship,” Ochekwu noted. “The resources (people and material) Teach for Nigeria gave me were enormous.”

In the last six years, Teach for Nigeria has successfully placed and supported 1,140 fellows to lead significant academic and non-academic outcomes in 600+ underserved schools, impacting over 160,000 students in Lagos, Ogun, Kaduna and Oyo. Interested applicants can visit https://teachfornigeria.org/apply/ to apply.