The Lagos State has developed 15 focus areas it plans to invest in to transform education in the state. To optimise implementation it is seeking private sector partnership. KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE reports on the plan.
If the Lagos State Transformation plan is anything to go by, public primary and secondary schools would get 100,000 classroom furniture before year end; the government would roll out special technology-driven platform to improve teaching and learning in secondary schools; Lagos State would begin recording the best performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE); technical colleges would be empowered to train top-rated experts; and teachers would get accommodation close to their schools.
These are some of the targets contained in the government’s Transformation Plan unveiled by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu and the Education Commissioner, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, to private sector representatives on Tuesday at the Eko Hotel and Suites during a Public Private Partnership (PPP) dialogue.
Mrs. Adefisayo said the aim of the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (BOS) Transformation Plan was to produce learners with the right attitude and 21st century skills to compete on the world stage irrespective of their socio-economic backgrounds. She said it could only happen by taking steps towards achieving the vision.
She said: “We had a retreat in the ministry of education and we said what do we want a child to be like at the end of their education? We had all sort of fancy words, ‘focused, patriotic, obedience, friendly, imaginative, humble, intelligent, inquisitive, attentive, patient’, who are skilled out-of-the-box thinking, writing and reading, coding; we wanted leaders, quick thinkers, problem solvers; we wanted people who will be good listeners, who will be emotionally intelligent, with great communication skills.
“It does not happen because you wish it, it does not happen because you want it. It happens because you deliberately, intentionally develop a plan that will ensure you get this child to be like that.”
Mrs. Adefisayo said the plan focuses on 15 areas where the government would implement intervention programmes to help improve quality education service delivery in the state.
The 15 areas cover: infrastructural upgrade in public schools; improved curriculum; school governance; quality primary education delivery; welfare of students and school personnel; and integration of technology in classrooms.
Others are: improvement of quality assurance; improvement of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET); conduct of census school census; improvement of engagement with private education providers; improvement on access to education for underprivileged children; and establishment of impactful public private partnerships.
Already, Mrs. Adefisayo said the government had begun serious work in implementation various aspects of the focus areas including the deployment of the Eko Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EXCEL) technology initiative to improve teaching and learning in public primary schools; induction of 3,000 newly recruited and trained teachers; improvement of delivery of the Nigerian curriculum; and improvement of performance in the WASSCE to lift Lagos to first position from sixth nationally.
Also, Mrs. Adefisayo said the state had started working with private sector partners to improve the use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in the classroom. She said laboratories exist online; and artificial intelligence is being used to help students study.
However, despite Sanwo-Olu increasing the education budget from 13 per cent to 18 per cent this year, Mrs. Adefisayo said it was insufficient to cater to the state’s education needs thus necessitating private sector partnership.
“If the Governor gives us the whole budget of Lagos State, I will take it. But it will not be enough,” she said.
Outlining priority areas where the government seeks private sector support, Mrs. Adefisayo said the government needed help gathering data. She said the state wanted a school census to know the actual number of private schools in Lagos State; as well as data of out-of school children.
Sanwo-Olu also stressed the importance of data to driving government policies in his remarks. He said he had discussed with the Director of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs. Abiola Seriki Ayeni, on creating a window for school owners to register their schools at no cost to capture accurate data on the 18,000 private schools in Lagos State because the government only had a record of 5,000 schools.
“I said to her, out of the 18,000 plus schools, how many really did you have that have ticked your boxes? She said about 5,000. And she said for her to wrap up those number, maybe we shouldn’t charge for some time; let people come voluntarily and register and let us be able to do data wrap up.
It is only when we have data that we know what challenge we are dealing with. I said I can give you a window in which we get more people to come in and register and raise capacity,” he said.
On improving capacity of school personnel, the Education Commissioner called for an upgrade of the state’s Teacher Training Centre in Owutu, Ikorodu, and establishment of more centres in each of the six education districts. She also called for the establishment of accommodation for teachers so that they do not need to commute far from their schools.
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“We want hostel centres for our teachers, because some live very far. Teachers hardly live in areas like Ilupeju; Ibeju Lekki. In some rural areas, they have to get to school by boats or even okada. Some have committed that if we have such accommodation, they are ready to stay there five days a week and return home weekends,” she said.
Mrs. Adefisayo also mentioned need for programmes targeting out-of-school children; and aimed at improving character of public school.
To improve quality at secondary education level, the Commissioner sought private sector support in construction of new school buildings and rehabilitation of dilapidated ones; upgrade of various laboratories, classrooms and libraries in schools; curriculum development; and provision of technology-driven school management system among others.
For Technical and Vocation Education and Training, the Commissioner called for rehabilitation of technical colleges; sponsorship of international exchange programmes, students’ and teachers’ work experience scheme; and provision of private-sector vocational training centres, among others.
Underscoring the need for quality TVET training, Sanwo-Olu said there was need to provide skilled labour for new industries coming up – like the Dangote Refinery.
“The opportunities are there. Dangote is going to recruit 70,000 Lagosians, Nigerians when the factory starts and we need all of these technical staff. Let us just go and resolve the curriculum ask them what they want. I said to them that 95 percent of those coming out of our schools will have a job already before they finish. We just need to step up the capacity,” he said.
In the area of special/inclusive education, Mrs. Adefisayo called for training of special education teachers; provision of technology to enhance learning in special and inclusive schools.
To collaborate with government in the priority areas, Mrs. Adefisayo outlined the engagement process which she promised private sector representatives would be seamless.
“Our engagement process will include expression of interest; selection and verification; engagement; and monitoring and evaluation,” she said.
Many private sector representatives lauded the Transformation Plan.
Registrar, Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM), Mrs. Busola Alofe, said the institute could collaborate in as many as six areas and offered its support to review curriculum; develop and deliver programmes’
However, some raised concern about the state’s commitment to its implementation.
Mrs Abolaji Osime, President of the Education Reform Innovation Team, called on government to reduce taxes paid by private schools. She said ERIT plans to intervene in 10 public secondary schools but worried that the teachers may be transferred before they are able to pass on what they learn.
Responding to their concerns, Mrs. Adefisayo said: “You just to believe us; you just have to believe that we have the passion and the integrity to carry out what we have said we would carry out. We want to make a difference; we can make a difference,” she said.
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