Lagos govt moves to reposition education

Lagos State Government on Thursday stepped up its determination and commitment to reposition the education sector for future relevance.

Towards this goal, the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education brought together critical stakeholders who brainstormed on the best way to achieve the envisioned position.

Themed: “Reimagining education for the future: Innovation, Inclusion and Sustainability,” the forum featured keynote speeches, goodwill messages, and engaging panelists and breakout sessions as well as networking.

At the event were participants from the Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), All Nigeria Confederation of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPPS), students, parents’ forum, private school owners, tutors-general, and permanent secretaries.

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Representatives of the Lagos State Technical and Vocational Education Board (LASTVEB), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), British Council, VCare Foundation, New Globe among others were also participants.

Delivering a keynote speech, the state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, expressed happiness for the “high caliber’ of participants at the forum, emphasizing the essence is to chart a fresh and rich strategy that will make the basic and secondary education subsector more impactful and future relevant for the people of the state.

He noted that even though “we are already in the future, education development has been one of the core priorities of the current state government led by Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, hence its sustained huge investment in the sector.

According to him, we know we are relatively doing well as a pace-setter for other states of the federation, but we want to do more and achieve greater results by ensuring that our children are truly learning in school.

He stated “Things are changing every day, and our children must be well prepared to compete favourably irrespective of their chosen fields with their peers around the globe now and in the future.

“So, we need quality and accurate data to enable the government to plan more effectively in areas of need such as teachers’ capacity development, students-teacher ratio, provision of infrastructural facilities, staff welfare, and lots more while at the same time we factor in inclusivity and sustainability.”

While commending the contribution of development partners such as UNICEF, British Council, and VCare Foundation, and so forth to this course, he called on NUT and ANCOPPS to give their maximum support and cooperation.

He said their roles are critical to drive new change and achieve meaningful learning outcomes among students.

The commissioner however promised that the outcome of the forum would not end up on the bookshelf but would turn into a policy framework for the state government to implement.

Welcoming participants earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs. Abisola Dokunmu-Adegbite, highlighted the significance of bringing the consortium of education experts together as participants, saying the essence is to take wholistic look at the discourse and come up with the best strategy to achieve the desired result.

She declared that the state government is not only passionate but committed to the course.

On her part, the Chief Education Officer, UNICEF Nigeria, Vanessa Lee, also expressed delight for the forum, commending the state government for taking the step of preparing for the future.

According to her, children are the future we’re talking about and it is about their lives and that is what UNICEF also represents.

“So, we are very pleased to support the worthy course,” she added.

In his own remarks, the Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers, Lagos State wing, Mr Hassan Akintoye, underscored the importance of the discourse as it is expected to strengthen service delivery in the education sector.

He however pointed out that putting action plans that work on the table is important just as the focus of the discourse if well explored will truly shape the future of education in the state.

He therefore pledged that the teachers will play an active role in “reimagining not just a future, but a better future for the children in Lagos State and Nigeria as a whole.

On her part, the Chairman of the state Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Victoria Peregrino, dwelled on the importance of quality education and teachers to national development.

According to her, the future of Lagos and other states, and indeed Nigeria as a whole rest firmly on the quality, relevance, and sustainability of our education system.

” That is why the theme of this forum is both timely and compelling. It challenges us not merely to improve what exists, but to boldly rethink education in the context of rapid technological change, demographic growth, economic transformation, and evolving global realities,” she noted.

Mrs. Peregrino stated that “Lagos State government does not consider education as mere access to certification, rather, we believe that education must equip learners with critical thinking, digital competence, creativity, ethical values, and the resilience required to thrive in a complex and interconnected world.”

She noted that to fully achieve this vision is not the responsibility of the government alone as it requires a strong ecosystem “where policymakers, development partners, private sector actors, educators, parents, and communities work in deliberate and sustained partnership.”.

While advocating an educational system that is innovative in approach, inclusive in practice, and sustainable to impact, Peregrino opined that the decisions reached at the forum and the sustained partnership by all concerns will certainly shape not only the “future of education of Lagos State, but the future of our society and our economy.”

Similarly, the guest speaker, Mr. Chilufya Base, who is the Country Deputy Director, British Council, noted that it is truly needed to convene the discourse, lamenting various education challenges faced by many low and middle-income countries including Nigeria, and without sparing Lagos State.

He identified low budget allocation, learning poverty, high out- of-school children, huge teacher and infrastructural deficit, digital gap, quality crisis, and so forth as fundamental.

He said despite these challenges Lagos State could still be considered to have made significant progress in the sector using various initiatives such as leave no child behind project, EkoExcel, massive infrastructural provision, teachers’ recruitment and capacity development, and so forth as references.

“And I will say things can only be better if we take the right action just as Lagos State is doing through the proposed reform,” he added.

M. Base however suggested five areas of intervention that could help the state government to achieve the goal in focus.

He said, “My suggestion is that we should return to the basics that work using five shifts.”

The first shift, he said, is the use of technology that will not equate innovation with devices.

Another one, according to him, is to redouble foundational learning efforts to ensure children are not struggling with language on basic comprehension and numeracy, and also to strengthen education practice and governance to translate inclusion into reality capturing students with special needs in real terms.

“It is equally important to recruit enough teachers and ensure their retention while using data to make policies,” he added,”

Base noted that all these efforts should be sustained and not a one-off thing to make a real transformation take place in the sector.

He pledged that the British Council would remain in supporting the state government in this journey and ensure “every learner has the skills, the confidence and the opportunity to thrive in a rapidly changing world.”