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Edo Govt meets students’ reps over protest at Igueben College 

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Officials of the Edo Government have met with the representatives of the students at the State College of Education, Igueben campus, to resolve the issue that led to the Feb. 10 protest which paralysed activities in the school.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the students embarked on the protest to express their ill feelings over the ongoing restructuring of the three campuses of the institution by the government.

Mr Famous Akiowu, the President of the Students’ Union Government (SUG) in the college, led other students’ leaders to the Ministry of Education for the meeting on Sunday.

He attributed their grievances to the decision of the management to cancel the admission of all the year one students and close the school for restructuring.

Akiowu expressed dismay that the students admitted, subsequent to an advertisement by the school, were being directed to return home while their school fees and other charges would be refunded.

He noted that all efforts to seek clarification from the relevant quarters proved abortive as none of the letters written was attended to.

But briefing newsmen after a closed-door meeting with the students’ leaders, which lasted for hours, Dr Joan Osa-Oviawe, the Commissioner for Education, apologised to the students, blaming the crisis on communication gap.

Osa-Oviawe, who was joined at the briefing by some commissioners, the students’ leaders and the acting provost of the college, asserted that the government had before the start of the reform in 2017, directed all campuses to phase out their existing students.

“They should go through all the processes and graduate; don’t bring in new ones.

“But for whatever reason, this continues to be a recurring decimal at Igbueben campus, even to the long-term potential detriment of this wishes of the community itself,” she said.

The commissioner, however, explained that the concern of the students as regards whether the year II and III students will graduate or their education will be truncated had been resolved.

“So fortunately for all concerned, the year III students are expected to graduate, by the normal school calendar, on the Feb. 18, while the year II students are expected to finish by September of this year.

“The other issue of the prospective students, we have explained to the students what the stand of the government is.

“We have asked the acting provost to come back with the accurate number of prospective students with their payment because it is clear what they have paid.

“What is very clear that I will like to emphasise from the point of view of the ministry of education and by extension, the Edo State Government is that we are reforming pre-serving teacher education in Edo state.

“That is what led to the repelling of the law that established the whole colleges of education and new colleges were created, re-organising the schools.

“In the past, every college offered all the programmes and they never had the money to actually provide quality teaching.

“We are now saying let’s streamline; focus on an area. Igbueben is the main campus and it is going to focus on training of secondary school teachers as well as technical and vocational teachers.

“Abudu is one of the campuses and it will focus on training of early childhood education teachers and basic education teachers.

“Finally, Afuze campus is all about physical and health education as well as special education.

“If we are streamlining this way, we are also building synergy with the respective boards that manage the different levels of non-tertiary education.

“State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) will be able to provide Abudu with information on the number of vacancies they are going to have at any given year and this will allow Abudu to effectively advise students on what area to specialise in.

“If SUBEB is telling Abudu that they only have vacancies for 300 students, why should it be training 1,000 students?

“If they want to train 1,000, it should be clear what pathway to employment these students are going to have. The same thing applies to all campuses.

“So, the issue of these prospective students that are waiting at Igueben, the government wants to be very clear. At the end of the day, we want to do what is best for the repositioning of teacher education in Edo.

“A lot of investments have already gone into it and we are not going to allow unnecessary mischief-making derailing that,” said the commissioner.

She assured the students, however, that moving forward; the government would engage them directly and ensure that the remaining part of their educational experience at the school was a pleasant one. (NAN) 

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Education

FG to Develop Data on all Schools to Address Challenges in Education

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The Federal Government says it will sign a partnership contract with an ICT firm to generate data on all schools in Nigeria in order to tackle challenges in the sector.

The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at a two-day capacity building workshop for Desk Officers in the ministry, its Departments and Agencies.

Reports says the capacity building workshop focuses on the implementation, collation, harmonisation and reportage of ministerial deliverables.

“It is our plan that by end of this year or early next year, we will be signing a partnership contract with a firm that will be working with our IT people to generate data on all schools in Nigeria.

“This is because we need to know our teachers, and every single student, we need data to know the trend of learning, our school infrastructure.

“This exercise will enhance decision making and policy formulation as the data collected and collated will aid evidence based planning, measure implementation and progress and identify areas where improvement is required,’’  he said.

Mamman added that data would help to advise the state governments on the right policy to make that would affect the schools positively.

He charged heads of MDAs, desk officers and other participants to tailor their programmes, activities and projects towards the realisation of the deliverables.

“The uppermost focus of the Ministry in general is in the areas of ensuring generation of credible, timely and reliable education data at all levels; and promotion of skills development.

“It is also in the enhancement of skill development across the entire education landscape for innovative and employability education; teachers training and development; and reducing the number of out-of-school children in Nigeria.

“I believe if we get it right in education, everything else will fall in place.

“The doctors who man our hospitals, the nurses who delivers the vaccines, the engineering in charge of our construction works, everybody is the bye-product of our activities,’’ he said.

The minister commended the government of Kaduna state and the security organisations for helping in the release of the 287 abducted school children in the state.

The Senior Education Officer, Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) , Ian Attfield, pledged to support government in actualising the deliverables and as well support in addressing learning crisis through continuing education financing.

It will be recalled that President Bola Tinubu in his Renewed Hope Agenda for the education sector signed a 23 Ministerial Deliverables and the 13 Pillars of the Education Sector Roadmap 2024-2027.

The deliverables are: strengthening research and innovation in education sector, reviewing the status of technical and vocational education board, strengthening the education management information system, among others .(NAN)

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Sen. Buba Pays UTME Fees for 350 Science Students in His Constituency

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Sen. Shehu Buba, representing Bauchi South at the Senate, has paid 2023/2024 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) fees for no fewer than 350 Science students in his constituency.

Mr Mohammed Dahiru, the Senator’s Programmes Supervisor, said in Bauchi on Monday, that in addition, all the beneficiaries will also be sponsored by the Senator in any university of their choice within the country.

Dahiru added that the Senator urged the beneficiaries to be more serious and read well in order to pass their exams.

Some students who are the beneficiaries of the gesture commended Sen. Buba for paying their fees.

They told newsmen in Bauchi, that the gesture had relieved their parents of the burden to pay for their UTME fees as they kept struggling to put food on their tables.

Jabir Khalid, one of the beneficiaries admitted that his parents couldn’t pay his examination fees because they had no money.

He extended his gratitude to the senator, adding that Buba also organised UTME lessons for them so that they could pass the examinations.  

“Sen. Buba came to my rescue and paid for me and many other students. And I shall be writing my exam on April 19,” he said.

Similarly, another beneficiary, Khadija Hassan, who was elated by the gesture, said her parents tried and paid for the first UTME she wrote but couldn’t raise money for this second one.

“I want to call on the senator to continue with his good deeds,” she said.

Also, Abubakar Ibrahim, commended  the senator for paying for their UTME fees in this difficult time when things are hard especially for the poor masses.

 “Some politicians don’t care about people’s education, not minding if you can afford to go to school or not.

“However, Senator Buba has shown us that he cares about our education to the extent of paying our UTME fees and I am among the lucky beneficiaries.”

“I also wrote the JAMB mock examination which I passed. The main examination will be held on the April 19,” he said. (NAN)

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Education

Education is Dying in Nigeria, People no Longer Read Books – Arogbofa

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Basorun Seinde Arogbofa, a leader of the Yoruba Sociocultural Groups, Afenifere, says education is dying in the country because people no longer read to improve their knowledge.

Arogbofa said this on Saturday in Akure on the occasion of his 85th birthday and public presentation of his new book, “The Psychology of Growing Old: A Personal Experience for both Old and Young”.

The Afenifere stalwart, while addressing the people present at the event, noted that education would die without books.

Arogbofa observed that the book publishing industry was also dying, mentioning some of the renowned publishing companies that had gone into extinction.

“Education is dying.

I know we have modern technology like this and that, but we can’t begin all this without writing; without producing the books, and we are not producing. Where do we go?

“This is a challenge for us in education. And of course, without books, we can’t move ahead.

“I’m aware that some will write in their bedroom or publish in the kitchen, and nobody, no editor will know what they have written, and they will go in front of their house to start selling the books.

“The next thing is that we find them in the hands of our students. And that is where education is going,” he said.

Arogbofa appealed to the state government and all stakeholders to see how to revive the reading culture in the country.

Speaking at the event, Gov. Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State congratulated Arogbofa on the occasion of his 85th birthday.

Aiyedatiwa, represented by his Chief of Staff, Mr Segun Omojuwa, saluted Arogbofa’s courage, mental alertness and scholarly exposition which he said were visibly demonstrated in the new book.

The governor said the occasion was not just for the presentation another book by one of the most versatile authors, but for celebrating hard work, focus and resilience of an icon who had served the Yoruba nation and Nigeria.

“It gives me great honour to be present at this auspicious occasion of the public presentation of the latest book of our revered elder statesman, Basorun Seinde Arogbofa, OFR.

“Let me first of all congratulate baba on his 85th birthday anniversary. Four scores and five years are no mean feat. It has undoubtedly been by the benevolence of the Almighty.

“This is even more outstanding and commendable when one takes into consideration his age.

“Baba is an exemplary leader and elder, I admire for his forthrightness, honesty, truthfulness and for always standing for a just cause.

“We hope to continually tap from your knowledge and wealth of experience,” he said.

Also speaking on the sideline of the event, former Governor of Ondo State, Olusegun Mimiko, said government needed to do more in terms of social security for elderly.

“As part of social security plan, we must take care of our old ones, especially the healthcare, there must be a healthcare security mechanism to take care of our old ones,” he said.

A former Governor of Kano State, Ibrahim Shekarau, identified inadequate funding and population challenge as the bane of education in the country.

Shekarau said that the rate of population growth has outgrown the planning and funding of the available facilities.

“I and those before us, the maximum in a class was 30, 40. I remember in the 80s, my government decided to make maximum in a class 50, but today, we have 100,150,” he said.

Shekarau later said all these were not beyond what the government could still address.

Reports says that the book was reviewed by the Ondo State Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Kayode Ajulo, SAN.

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