Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has restated his administration’s commitment to strengthening the education sector through sustained investment in teachers’ training and capacity development.
The Governor made this at the 2026 World Teachers’ Day Celebration, themed “Standing With Teachers: 60 Years of Protecting the Profession, Advancing its Status and Shaping Our Future,” held at the NUT Pavilion, Central Business District, Agidingbi, Ikeja.
Sanwo-Olu, who spoke through the Deputy Governor/Chairman of the occasion, Dr. Obafemi Hamzat, said the integration of technology into teaching and learning, as well as the continuous improvement of learning environments across the state, remained part of the government’s commitment to strengthening the education sector.
According to him, “The demands on teachers are changing. UNESCO and the ILO are now revising the 1966 Recommendation because teachers face pressures that did not exist then, from digital technology and climate change to inclusion, migration, and displacement.
The classroom of today is not the classroom of yesterday. Our teachers must be equipped for a future shaped by technology, artificial intelligence, innovation, entrepreneurship, and a changing global economy.
We will therefore continue to invest in teacher training and capacity development, promote the use of technology in teaching and learning, and improve the learning environment,” said Sanwo-Olu, urging teachers to maintain the highest standards of professionalism and integrity.
While advising them to continue inspiring their pupils to dream, learn, create, and believe in themselves, he also charged education managers and school administrators to create supportive, respectful environments where teachers can thrive.
Sanwo-Olu said between 2023 and 2025, his administration had recruited 4,353 qualified teachers and deployed them across the State’s education districts and the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board, while also approving a fresh recruitment exercise through the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board to further strengthen the teaching workforce.
He added that the government had sustained its commitment to teachers’ welfare by ensuring that salaries are paid on the 23rd of every month and approving N102.5 million in housing loans for teachers. “We will keep recruiting on merit because our classrooms still need more teachers.
Your requests on the retirement age for teachers and on the Annual Teachers’ Merit Award, these matters are receiving the attention of this government,” the Governor said.
In her goodwill message, the First Lady, Dr. Ibijoke Sanwo-Olu, who was also spoke through the Former Tutor-General, Education District IV, Anike Adekanye, commended teachers for their efforts.
She noted that Lagos stands with them, appreciates them, and believes in them, adding that their contribution to the State can not be measured by examination results alone.
Also speaking, the Lagos State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Alli-Balogun, said the narrative of the education sector in Lagos is changing through the different initiatives of the government, while citing improvements in teachers’ welfare, infrastructure, teaching and learning outcomes, research and the students’ performance in the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) examinations.
Addressing the request of teachers to bring back the ‘Teachers’ Merit Awards’, the Commissioner disclosed that “The state government has approved the request, and teachers would soon be invited to participate in the selection process for the forthcoming merit awards,” urging them to see the recognition as a reflection of their contributions to the State’s education system.
