Ahead of the forthcoming May\June senior school certificate examinations being conducted by the West African Examinations Council(WAEC) and the National Examination Council(NECO), the Lagos State government has launched a learners’ support initiative to help students preparing well for the two external exams.
The state’s Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, unveiled the special e-learning platform (christened Eko Learners’ Support) on Tuesday at the state’s Education Resource Centre, Ojodu.
Eko Learners’ Support, an initiative developed by a team of educators under the state’s ministry of education is designed as lessons to be broadcast on Lagos Television (LTV) and other social platforms with no fewer than 30 proficient teachers, recruited through rigorous screening and will serve as facilitators.
It will feature for now about 320 lessons in 10 different core subjects including English language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Government, History, Literature-in-English and Yoruba.
The TV programme, which is an additional mode of teaching students outside the normal classroom settings will also run for 26 weeks for now leading to the commencement of this year’s May\June WASSCE with each episode lasting 30 minutes and to be archived for future use by the learners.
It is also expected that after the broadcast of each episode on television where some of the past questions of both exams will also be treated, all the lessons taken for each day will be stored permanently on various social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, X – (formerly Twitter) for future access by learners.
The commissioner stressed the importance of students well preparing for both WAEC and NECO-organised exams even as the learning materials will be available to both public and private school students, especially in terminal classes across the state.
He explained that the initiative is a worthy investment in the future of students in Lagos State and Nigeria by extension.
According to him, the current Babajide Sanwo-Olu-led administration believes strongly that education is the bedrock of development, hence its commitment to providing quality education for the people of the state irrespective of socio-economic backgrounds.
He explained that even though the average performance of Lagos State students in WASSCE has been fluctuating in recent times, the state government aims to have significant and steady improvement in the performance of students in both WAEC and NECO-organised exams.
Alli-Balogun pointed out that though it is only WASSCE that the state government registers free for all SS3 students in the state-owned schools in line with its free education policy, the government acknowledges that some of these students are still registering on their own, for NECO-organised exam, hence the need to provide the necessary tools and support for them alongside their mates in private schools to excel in the two exams.
The commissioner explained that what makes the Eko Learners’ Support package unique from others anywhere nationwide is that it is not a “one-way traffic” as learners have the opportunity to make use of the learning materials on their own, give feedback, ask questions, and also studies with their classmates.
He noted that all the lessons are prepared by the state government-approved scheme of work and the WASSCE and NECO syllabuses.
Alli-Balogun added that the lessons are equally prepared and delivered sequentially to enable learners to go back to those missed and study them at their convenience.
He urged the students, who the package was meant for to take full advantage of the initiative to come out in flying colours in their exams, adding that education is a lifelong journey.
Some of the students at the launch told Tribune Online that they would find the new learning platform useful in their studies for their forthcoming terminal exam.
They commended the state government for coming up with the initiative, especially at this time when they didn’t have money to engage tutorial teachers.
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