From Attah Ede, Makurdi

The Director-General, Benue State Education Quality Assurance Agency, BEQA, Dr. Terna Francis, on Thursday, said the administration of Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia is at the verge of reviving the state foreign exchange programme that was abandoned by previous administrations.

Dr. Terna, who said the foreign exchange program that had provided Benue citizens with opportunity to study abroad in the past, was abandoned due to the inability of the government to pay three million naira for those who secured foreign scholarships. The DG who disclosed while speaking with journalists in his office in Makurdi, said he had already sent a memo to the State government to reintroduce the program in order to add value to the educational system in the state.”We want to revive the foreign exchange program which was stopped because of just 3 million naira. I have already made a memo to the State government to reintroduce the program.We have some of these people who have benefited from this foreign exchange programme presently working with the state government. Some of them are in government house working while others are in other MDAs working and adding value to what we are doing”,Dr. Terna maintained. He however expressed dismay over the poor quality of education system in the State, saying there is a big mess in the quality of teaching and learning in schools across the State. “It was for this reason that the Governor Rev. Fr. Hyacinth Alia established this agency with the mandate to document, control and check the quality of learning in the basic and post basic education sector.”We met a mess in the education sector and we are now doing a clean up exercise . Several schools in the State have structural defects. People convert their two (2)bedroom flats into school.”The teachers are just secondary school leavers. Someone who just finished SS3 is giving a teaching job to teach SS3 physics.”Just imagine, a proprietor chokes students in a poultry farm. This is unacceptable and we are going to close the school down. Education is just for profiteering without quality.”We have been doing our best to clean up the mess. The agency is a bureau directly answerable to the Governor. Quality Assurance that means the department of Quality assurance in the Ministry of Education is directly under the agency.”It is a systemic thing. 32,000 is the fee for WAEC. But before now, the students were paying over 50,000 or more as WAEC fees.”We have called for recertification and gathering of data about quality of teachers and paying of annual renewal fees. We sent out our evaluators to confirm the data schools give to us.”I have visited over 300 schools in the State. We have warned school proprietors and proprietresses to put things in place or have their schools sealed. We are not compromising on standard and quality no matter who is involved. We are not backing down. We have the political backing.”It will amaze you to know that 2016 was the last time the examination board conducted BECE without issuing certificates.”You can imagine that a school in Makurdi is using the British curriculum and operating a semester kind of education. The students are made to pay 550,000 as fees.”We have tried to reduce bureaucracy in the establishment of schools before now, which takes up to a year, but now, it takes just a few months to get a provisional approval to establish a school.

President Bola Tinubu has approved system-wide policies to comprehensively overhaul the education sector to improve learning and skill development, increase enrolment, and ensure the academic security of the nation’s children.The president’s approved policies are captured as DOTS, an acronym representing: Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training & Development, and Skill Development & Acquisition.

Data Repository: Currently, there is a paucity of coordinated, verifiable, and authentic data on all aspects of the education sector in Nigeria, which is critical for planning. President Tinubu has also approved the conduct of an extensive census of all schools in Nigeria from primary to tertiary level, their conditions and live-in facilities, proximity to one another, educational infrastructure etc; all teachers in Nigeria, their qualifications, training support received, etc; and all pupils and students in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, gender, exam grades, etc.This information will guide federal and state interventions for teachers’ training and development as well as overall support. It will also provide data on gender ratio (boys and girls), their specific learning needs, and who is in school or who has dropped out based on daily monitoring with year-by-year reporting.There will be a dedicated portal/dashboard in the Federal Ministry of Education, offices of state governors, and local government chairpersons, which will host and disseminate this information for the federal government, states, and local governments to monitor in real time.This new data tracking architecture will enable the government to track the progress of students, thus having a clear data-driven mechanism for interventions, especially concerning out-of-school children, girls, and those with specific learning disabilities, among others.Out-of-school children’s education and trainingThe Federal Ministry of Education is already implementing the government’s policy through the activities of four of its agencies. Already, there are about two million beneficiaries. The system-wide policy will further enhance the education and training of the nation’s out-of-school children.Teachers’ development and supportUnder this programme, the Federal Ministry of Education will support and train teachers in digital skills to facilitate the use of technology in classrooms. This is expected to bring technology and digitization to teachers and learners at all levels of education.Skill development and acquisition for all levelsIn his determined effort to enhance skill diversity in the education sector in order to effectively equip Nigerian students with the requisite skills, knowledge, and values to become functional and productive members of society, President Tinubu has approved the National Skills Framework.The framework is designed to provide the appropriate skills for each level of education that will result in the empowering of generations of Nigerians with the required aptitude for the evolving needs of the global economy of the 21st century.This framework is expected to address skill-gaps, quality of education, and unemployment concerns as students will acquire certain skill sets, in addition to general knowledge.It is expected that once fully implemented, these programmes will succeed in resetting learning and connecting the ‘DOTS’ for significant improvement of the overall education system in Nigeria, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.

From Yagana Ali, Yola

The Adamawa State Agribusiness Support Programme ADAS-P has concluded arrangements to establish standard & digital structure/database for farmers and farmlands to contact with farmers to boost Agribusiness in the state.The chairman implementation committee of the ADAS Programme, Dr.

Ahmed Garba stated this while briefing His Royal Majesty, Hama Bata Homon Alhamdu Gladstone Teneke at his Palace in Demsa LGA of the state. The Database and structure will be used to ensure agricultural support reaches the genuine grassroots farmers to boost agriculture.He explained that the ADAS Programme will facilitate and drive the enhancement of production, commercialization and industrialization of agriculture for economic development to attract investors.He added that “we are going to use the traditional council to identify and profile farmers because they know the farmers and farmlands better than everyone” Dr Garba explained.Dr. Garba Added henceforth only those on the Database will benefit from agricultural support in Adamawa State.Speaking during the courtesy call, the Director of Chieftaincy Affairs Ibrahim Yaro challenged the district Scribes to convey the message to the District Heads and all farmers in their communities.On her part, the administrative Secretary of the ADAS Programme Mrs Joy Tarfa advised all stakeholders to be transparent and do the needful while discharging their duties.During the visit, the District Scribes, Directors Agric, and Sectional Heads among others were sensitized on the programme.