Ekiti State Government has restated the resolve to maintain its collaboration with developments partners, interested corporate organizations and well-to-do individuals in the efforts to return the state to its pride of place in the education sector and restore the core value of Ekiti people.
Speaking in Ado-Ekiti, during the opening ceremony of a 3 day UNICEF Training Workshop for Master Trainers on Effective Record-Keeping in Public Primary Schools in Ekiti State, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mr. Foluso Daramola, said that Governor Kayode Fayemi is passionate about the development of the education sector, being one of the core values of Ekiti people.
According to him, Governor Fayemi gave the Education Ministry three mandates which are, to ensure good teaching and learning environment in public schools through aggressive infrastructural development, boost the teachers’ morale for optimal performance and make the teaching profession attractive. Stressing that all school-age children must also be in school, Mr Daramola said that the Governor Kayode Fayemi-led administration has a zero-tolerance for out of school children and has put adequate arrangement and incentives in place to ensure this, hence there is no reason for any child to be out of school in Ekiti State.
Daramola listed the incentives to include, the free and compulsory qualitative education, payment of running grant to schools for administrative ease as well as payment of outstanding counterpart funds which enable the state access funds to execute UBEC/ SUBEB Projects.
In her welcome address, the Chairman of the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof Francisca Aladejana stressed the importance of accurate and authentic data of schools, noting that such reliable records will assist the government and other relevant stakeholders in the formations and execution of appropriate education
policies.
Professor Aladejana added that proper records allow the government to possess unfettered access to data on physical structures (abandoned, dilapidated as well as those in good condition) furniture, enrollment of school children, dropouts and all-round condition of the school system.
Describing the training workshop as a continuous exercise, the SUBEB boss said the current one was the second phase after the first phase that was implemented in 2017 during which 730 selected Principals, Head Teachers and Quality Assurance Officers of the Ministry of Education, SUBEB and Local Government Education Area (LGEA) across the state were introduced to the contemporary and appropriate ways of keeping vital records/documents and school censors.
Aladejana said that another 413 people including Master Trainers, Quality Assurance Officers, Principals, Head Teachers and Teachers have been scheduled to undergo training under the UNICEF’s training program for 2019. She lauded the immense support of UNICEF for the Fayemi-led administration at developing the education sector in the state.
In his remarks, the Permanent Secretary, SUBEB, Mr Sesan Fabamise urged participants to justify the huge investment on them by paying rapt attention to the lectures and be actively involved in all the activities to enable them to be more efficient and effective in service delivery at the end of the whole exercise.
