*Photo: Gov Eno*
The Akwa Ibom State Governor, Pastor Umo Eno has called on the National Senior Secondary Education Commission(NSSEC) to work out a regulatory framework that would professionalise teaching, adopt measures for continuous professional training of teachers.
Pastor Umo Eno also said, such legislation should be designed to set minimum standards for school infrastructures and environment, as well as updating curriculum, defines procedures for school licensing among other parameters that would enhance national quality education.
Pastor Eno stated this today, 13 September 2023, in Uyo while being represented by the State Deputy Governor, Senator Akon Eyakenyi at a 3-Day workshop organized for education stakeholders in States of the southern zone of Nigeria to critique the Zero Draft Minimum Standards Regulatory Framework for Senior Secondary Education in Nigeria by the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC).
In his words, “I expect this workshop to particularly emphasize the need to professionalise teaching, adopt measures for continuous professional training of teachers, set minimum standards for school infrastructures and environment, update curriculum, define procedures for school licensing, among others.”
The Akwa Ibom Governor who described education as the heart of socio-economic development, further said, “we can’t grow beyond the quality of our school system”, adding that, the gaint strides of developed nations of the world are always traceable to their school system.
The Governor said, if Nigeria must be fixed, there is need to re-visit the school system with a view to establishing certain minimum standards in the quality of personnel, infrastructures and curriculum, while aligning senior secondary school as a critical segment of the education chain, where “mistakes” made at the lower levels of education can be remedied, because children who are mismanaged at such critical level of education may have to live with the consequences, the rest of their lives.
While stating his administration’s commitment to provide quality education for children in the State, the governor said, the regulatory framework for senior secondary education would benefit his State as he has already prioritized quality and skills-driven education in his administration’s A.R.I.S.E. AGENDA, with the expectation to chun out well trained, properly groomed and skill-full individuals who can be self-reliant.
Speaking at the event, the Akwa Ibom State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Idongesit Etiebet, who said the event was an opportunity to critically crosscheck the draft document, also affirmed the state government’s supportive roles for the development of education in the State and to attain a better future for children in the State.
Mrs. Etiebet said, Pastor Umo Eno’s impact on children’s education has been shown barely his hundred days in office with the delivery of educationally enhanced policies and programmes, including the recent announcement of a hundred million naira scholarship grant for persons with disabilities, and remodelling of Christ The King Primary School in Uyo, payment of subventions for school management, among others.
The Education Boss who called on all stakeholders in the education sector to be diligent in critiquing of the regulatory framework with the aim to bring out positive outcomes that would guarantee quality assurance in education across the country, said, this would help children with qualitative and quantitative learning anywhere in Nigeria.
In a keynote address, the Executive Secretary of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC), Dr. Iyela Ajayi said, the national minimum standards regulatory framework is geared to play an important and critical role in the repositioning of senior secondary education in Nigeria.
Dr. Ajayi who charged critical stakeholders selected for the critiquing of the minimum standards document emphasized the need for painstaking analysis of the “zero draft minimum standards for senior secondary education in Nigeria.”
The programme of the event indicates that the 3-Day workshop will end on Friday, 15th September, 2023.