Edo State government on Tuesday said it has spent about N6 billion in providing education materials for state-owned primary schools since the launch of the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) in 2018.
Joan Oviawe, chairman of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), made the disclosure during an interactive session with journalists to celebrate the third year anniversary of EdoBEST in Benin City.
Oviawe said the money, which was received from the state and counterpart funding, was expended in the training of teachers, e-learning gadgets, textbooks, among other education materials.
She also disclosed that over 11,000 teachers were trained under the program, adding that 3,000 new teacher graduates will soon be engaged in the system
While reeling out successes recorded, she said the programme would be extended to cover junior secondary schools in the not too distant future
“What has been out from the reform efforts by the Governor Godwin Obasek-led administration is unquantifiable in terms of human and material resources but the key thing is the effort that has been put in because the governor is a data-driven decision maker, so every decision that is taken is backed by facts.
“In the area of infrastructure, I will say at least N6 billion in state and counterpart funding has been expended on infrastructure. We already know the cost to have every child in the classrooms, including the training of teachers, smartphones that the head teachers use to sync with tablets, textbooks, and other education materials. So, when the governor in 2017 said if he has N100 he will prefer to spend N40 on basic education, I believe he has done that.
“Basic education remains free and the government has been providing instructional materials since 2018. Over 7 million textbooks, instructional materials, and examination papers have been distributed to all our pupils,” she added.
She, however, said of the 1,046 public primary schools in the state, only 186 have not been linked to EdoBEST.
The EdoBEST programme is a teaching technique which involves the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools.
