Lagos adjusts primary school calendar, launches EkoExcel

The Lagos State government has adjusted the closing and resumption time-table of the 2019/2020 academic session for students in the public primary schools in the state.

It is also set to launch on Monday it newly initiated “EkoExcel Pre-service Professional Development and Technology Training Programme” for teachers and headteachers in those schools.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo gave this hint in a statement made available to newsmen by the Assistant Director in charge of Public Affairs of the ministry, Mr Kayode Sutton, on Friday.

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According to her, now with the adjustment, the students would commence first term (Christmas) break from today (yesterday) instead of next Friday as earlier scheduled and would resume for the second term on Monday, January 20, 2020, as against Monday, January 6 as previously scheduled.

And by this adjustment, she said, the public secondary schools as well as private primary and secondary schools were not affected.

The commissioner noted that the adjustment is to create time for retraining of all the teachers in all its primary schools under the EkoExcel scheme in conjunction with the Bridge International Academies.

The retraining programme which would incorporate the use of technology devices and other tools for modern teaching, she explained further, is designed to support teachers in achieving better learning outcomes in the classrooms.

She said up to 14,000 teachers would benefit in all with 4,000 from the number and from 300 schools across the state would attend the pilot scheme starting on Monday.

While disclosing that the state had up to 1, 016 government-owned primary schools and half a million pupils in them across local government areas, Mrs Adefisayo said at the end of the training exercise, teachers in the public primary schools would be expected to impart knowledge and skills that relevant in 21^st century education and economy on their pupils.

The belief by the state government, she stressed, is that critical investment in basic education is required to build the quality workforce needed for the future hence the creation of opportunity for accessing quality education for all children in the state.