It is a tough mandate, but it is achievable. Former Education Minister Mrs Oby Ezekwesili wants Lagos State to lead the way in making Nigerian pupils rank among the best in the world. Governor Babatunde Fashola has promised to deliver on the challenge before leaving office in 2015, reports KOFOWOROLA BELO-OSAGIE
In two years, Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola would have left office, but what will be his education legacy? This challenge was thrown by former Education Minister, Mrs Oby Ezekwesili at the Third Lagos State Education Summit 2013. The theme was: “Qualitative Education in Lagos State: Raising the Standard.” Mrs Ezekwesili challenged Fashola to ensure that the performance of pupils in public exam improved beyond what it is now before he quits office on 2015. Taking up the challenge, Fashola pledged to improve pupils’ performance in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) from 38.5 per cent to 70 per cent.
Mrs Ezekwesili, the keynote speaker, identified the areas where the government has done well to improve education against the backdrop of poor performance in the country in general.
She said learning outcomes in Nigeria, which has 17.8 per cent (10.5 million) of the world’s population of out-of-school children, is poor; basic education (primary and junior secondary) does not deliver the requisite literacy, numeracy and life skills to learners; while teachers are unqualified or under qualified, as well as poorly trained, making them unable to deliver quality education. She also said Nigeria pays insufficient attention to Early Childhood Development and Education.
While she lamented the bureaucracy in government that has hampered educational development at the federal and state levels, she praised Lagos State for instituting reforms that gave birth to the Eko Secondary Education project, which is supported by the World Bank, to provide grants directly to secondary schools to meet infrastructural and training needs, and improve learning outcomes. She said the project has done a lot to cut out bureaucracy that has caused inefficiency in public administration.
Through its “Adopt a School” initiative and the revamping of Technical and Vocational Education, Mrs Ezekwesili praised the state for leveraging on the gains of Public Private Partnership (PPP) to develop the education sector. She said this is in line with global best practice, as governments world over are realising that their noble intentions and funds are insufficient to meet the needs of the citizenry, underscoring the need for private sector partnerships.
With these and other reforms, including increased funding and infrastructural development, Mrs Ezekwesili said Lagos State has been able to improve the performance of its SS3 pupils from 10.44 per cent in 2007 WASSCE to 38.5 per cent in the 2012 edition of the examination. She said credit passes in English Language increased from 46 per cent in 2008 to 88.29 per cent in 2012; while Mathematics improved from 45 per cent to 81.85 per cent; and Biology from 33 to 61.25 per cent.
Though commendable, Mrs Ezekwesili said the performance was not good enough to achieve global competitiveness. She charged the governor to double the goal and improve efforts to achieve better outcomes.
“June 2012 was regarded as the litmus test for the Project as the first cohort of Senior Secondary School year 3 students under the Lagos Eko Project sat for the externally administered WASSCE examinations in June 2012. Results recently released indicated that 38.53% of students who sat for the examination obtained five credits and above including English Language and Mathematics as against 10.41% at baseline in 2008. But you can see that it is still not way close to enable students to be global competitors.
“Your commitment to pushing the reform because it matters for the poor must have staying power. You owe the poor more than any political commitment. I have tried not to tell you anything unique. What I have done is to reinforce the excellent thing you began to do. All you need is bigger ambitions; you need to set bigger goals. There is nothing wrong with doubling the performance for this year. If we have a dysfunctional education sector and we ignore it, we ignore it to our own peril,” she said.
With Governor Fashola agreeing to raise the standard as recommended by Mrs Ezekwesili, the goal is set for the next two years for the education sector in Lagos state.
For the goal to be achieved, stakeholders in the Lagos State education sector said all the state needs do is to follow Mrs Ezekwesili’s recommendations to continue with the reforms, and more importantly, improve teacher quality.
To this end Fashola has said the state would do more to train its teachers so they can deliver.
“It is the training of our teachers that we are going to do. In the last three years they have spent the long vacation in training at the Public Service Staff Development Centre (PSSDC) in Magodo. We are already planning this year’s training. Once the vacation starts, their training will start,” he said.
To further improve teacher quality, Comrade Kayode Idowu, the Chairman Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) said the government should set about pursuing policies that would enhance teacher quality right from the way they are hired.
He said: “It is not about money, but there are other incentives that should be given to teachers in order for them to improve on their productivity. I believe the Lagos state government was listening when she said teachers are at the center of the reforms. I believe when they go back to the drawing board they will also be able to implement those things that will make the teachers happy; that will bring the best brain back to education. Don’t forget that she also mentioned the way of recruiting teachers into the teaching sector. That means if the process of recruitment is faulty, then you cannot get the best from the so-called teacher that would be employed.”
However, beyond what government does, former Deputy Governor, Mrs Sarah Adebisi Sosan, who was instrumental to the adoption of the Eko Project while she was in office, said teachers must invest in their own development.
“They have to ensure that in addition to training opportunities government put in place, they should also invest in their development. Sometimes it just about N20,000 for you to go for workshops, seminars; and they have to avail themselves of what they can on the internet; invest in IT facilities. Even from the comfort of their rooms they can access information. I am sure many of them, people are watching what they are doing. They are being motivated now; and I am sure they will get more motivation,” she said.
On her part, former chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LSUBEB), Mrs Oluwagbemiga Benson, said the only way for the government to achieve such audacious goal is for the governor to continue to personally monitor what goes on in the sector.
“I believe it is the steps they are taking now that will help achieve the goal. For instance, the governor is holding meetings with the commissioner, permanent secretary, and tutor-generals every month. If that happens, they are able to tell him the situation of things so that he will know how to address problems. He (Fashola) is telling us he will supervise us at the highest level. With that everyone will be on his/her toes,” she said.
Strengthening school administration and supervision at the grassroots is also crucial to achieving the government’s goals, Hon Olalekan Majiyagbe, Education Secretary, Agege Local Government Education Authority (LGEA), said.
“The LGEA should be well repositioned to meet challenges. They should be more empowered. The bureaucracy is much. The agents involved in monitoring schools are too many. There should be collaborations between SUBEB and the LGEA to reduce the number of monitors so the teachers will not be afraid,” he said.
