In an age where the education sector is witnessing global decline in financing and prioritization by public policy makers, Governor Chukwuma Soludo is going in a different dimension to show the light in the transformation of the education sector. In his vision for the state, it is clear that he is ready to rescue the sector from the suffocating chokeholds of infrastructure decay, poor quality teaching and learning and equal access for the citizenry, and to place the state on the map as a hub for market driven education and as an edutourism destination.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO recommends a benchmark for annual budgetary allocation to education by member countries to be 26%. But while the Federal Government and some other sub- nationals are hovering around 8%, Anambra, under Soludo, has continued on a steady increase in education allocation as seen in the 2022, 2023 and 2024 fiscal circles.
This remarkable feat is not just about numbers but lived experiences of Ndi Anambra. Since September 2023, students in public schools are enjoying free education. This means that for their parents, that huge burden has been taken off their necks. It also means that children who, hitherto, would have been denied quality education can now receive it at no cost. It also reduces the number of out-of-school children in the state which in the long run will reduce crime and criminality.
There is also a new wave of doing things in our schools. Lacking of teachers in core subject areas and in hinterlands is now a thing of the past. With five thousand teachers employed in December 2022, and another three thousand on the way, this hydra-headed monster has been chopped off, bettering the student-teacher ratio in the state. Already, the state government is digitalizing our classrooms and training teachers on digital skills to meet contemporary demands in teaching and learning. Also, with the payment of the state government’s counterpart funds for the Federal Government of Nigeria and Universal Basic Education Commission Marching Grant Schemes for primary and secondary schools by Governor Soludo, schools in the state will now benefit from the 2019, 2020 and 2021 interventions. This will be a game changer in the infrastructural experience of our schools. Beyond these, the welfare of our teachers are prioritized and the monitoring and evaluation strategies upgraded to yield desirable results.
But the real game changer in the education system of Anambra State lies in the implementation of the recommendations of the Anambra State Educational Advisory Council chaired by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, assisted by Nigeria’s former Minister of Aviation, Chief Osita Chidoka and other eighteen experts who make up the membership of the council. The recommendations captured in the council’s report titled “Solution Agenda: Shaping the Future of Anambra State through Innovative Educational Strategies” is intended “to develop new pathways for delivering quality education and improving learning outcomes for students in the Anambra school system.”
Some of the key recommendations of the report include: a new funding mechanism that includes community participation, an education trust fund, and improved funding for teacher recruitment and training; a repurposing of the state’s multiple education platforms into a single technology platform capable of providing students, parents, inspectors, and teachers access to information, training videos, student results, and performance data across all metrics; a redesigning of the school inspection and supervision framework to enable grading and ranking of all schools in Anambra State along pre-set criteria like quality of infrastructure, performance in state standardized tests, learning outcomes, student’s performance in national examinations, and teacher qualifications, attendance, and performance; and aligning the state’s aspirations with global standards by joining the Program for International Students Assessments (PISA).
The optimism in these recommendations and its expected impact lies in the fact that Governor Soludo has directed the immediate operationalization of the recommendations which came up after a thorough review of other education systems across the globe which has produced verifiable world class results. The fact that the Solution administration drew the membership of the Committee from
across political affiliations and academic fields and expertise shows its readiness to place the state on the education map globally. It will be a testimony of the futuristic educational system that its outcome will be evidence based driven and globally minded.
The future of our education is here and Governor Chukwuma Soludo is driving the innovation.
Written by DAVID OKPOKWASILI
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