Lagos state Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo has disclosed that a total of 3,000 Primary and Secondary school teachers were recently absorbed into the teaching workforce of the State.
According to her, the desire to engage the teachers by the Sanwo- Olu administration “is a bid to boost the capacity of the existing workforce thereby providing quality education. ”
Addressing newsmen at the annual Ministerial Press Briefing of the Ministry held at the JJT Park, Alausa Ikeja on Tuesday, the Commissioner noted that the Education Sector which represents the 3rd Pillar of the THEMES agenda of the present administration has witnessed tremendous improvements, placing a high premium on quality of teaching and learning in all schools in the State.
According to her, various workshops and trainings were also organised for teachers drawn from the various Education Districts including the Special Needs Education Division as improving capacity and welfare of schools’ personnel remains paramount to the present dispensation.
The Commissioner while presenting the activities and achievements of the Ministry, also pointed out that the Ministry remains a critical success factor for the socio- economic development of an emerging economy that encourages responsible citizenship, development of human capacity and the crucial support for a transition into a knowledge based economy.
Adefisayo revealed that the Lagos State Government’s plans for Education are being executed along key strategic areas under the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu (BOS) Education Transformation Plan 2020 with initiatives and intervention projects.
She intimated that the Ministry had embarked on the construction and upgrading of Public Schools’ infrastructure across the State with the completion of 6 blocks of 92 classrooms in primary schools and 3 blocks of 54 classrooms in secondary schools in different parts of the State which is aimed at easing classroom congestion while ensuring capacity develop and welfare of students.
“In addition, the State government under the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) intervention projects also commenced the delivery of 10,164 furniture and 60,000 chair table units to public schools state wide.
She added that Governor Sanwo-Olu had approved the establishment of well-equipped standard science laboratories in 11 State Senior Secondary Schools and 5 Government Technical Colleges including the repair and rehabilitation of 60 selected schools.
She further hinted that in the last one year of the present administration, the Ministry of Education has instituted better school governance, administration and also improved the quality of primary education with the Pilot launch of the EKO-EXCEL (Excellence in Child Education) programme which is an initiative of the Lagos State Government aimed at transforming teaching and learning in all State Primary schools with the training of 4,400 teachers and social officers in January 2020.
“The Eko Excel initiative is already operational in 300 public primary schools in the State.
“The State government also provided two new buses, laptops, photocopying machines to Basic Education Quality Assurance Officers for monitoring of Primary schools.
“We have improved capacity and welfare of students. Our students have continued to emerge tops at several competitions nationally and internationally clinching medals and trophies for the State. Competition like the JETS Competition, World Robot Olympiad held at EDUTUS University Gyor, Hungary and the Chinese Bridge Proficiency Competition to mention a few,” she stressed.
The Honourable Commissioner stated that with Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry has ensured that the Students remain engaged by organising electronic learning and teaching platforms through Radio, Television and the Internet. “Besides, a total of 135,445 pupils are being fed one meal per day in 976 schools across the State through the Home Grown School Feeding programme which is presently on-going.
Adefisayo further stated that the administration has invested so much in technology as a learning aid while setting up a support Team of Technology Professionals to support its teaching workforce adding that, the Ministry has reviewed the Nigerian Curriculum and integrated it with the 21st Century skills while the Year 2020 major Book Review is ongoing.
She however reiterated that the Ministry organized the 2020 the Public Private Partnership (PPP) Dialogue, a strategic initiative aimed at partnering with stakeholders, Public, Private and Non-Governmental Organisation that are passionate about improving the Quality of Education in the State in a bid to establish and leverage impactful Public Private Partnership.
She expressed the readiness of the State Government through the Sanwo-Olu – Hamzat led administration to ensure the revitalization of the sector making it more effective and efficient for the attainment of self-reliance and socio economic development of our great State.
