THE Federal Government on Tuesday disclosed that a whopping sum of N1.338 trillion has been injected into the education sector in the last four years of President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu made this known during his valedictory press briefing jointly addressed with the Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah on their stewardship in the last four years.
He noted that in spite economic downturn in the last few years, the government deliberate invested heavily on capital projects in the education sector in view of the decay in the system and the desire to lift the sector out of the woods.
Adamu while given the breakdown, noted that the matching grant disbursed to the state governments by Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) during the period under review was N350 billion, while the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) intervention to public tertiary institutions, including Needs Assessment, was to the tune of N857 billion.
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He added that the main ministry and other agencies recorded about N86 billion bringing the figure to N1.338 trillion invested in the education sector in the last four years.
He also announced that the much anticipated National Commission for Secondary Schools (NCSS) to take responsibility for the regulation of secondary school education would soon take off.
He said: “Over the years, there has been a clamour for the establishment of a National Commission for Secondary Schools. This administration has successfully sponsored a bill for the establishment of NCSS.
“A few days ago, the President assented to that bill and implementation will commence immediately,” he said.
He admitted that the administration failed on the promise to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country by half, disclosing, however, that the number has been reduced from the 13.2 million to 10.2 million.
The Minister said: “This administration also embarked on the school feeding programme in some states of the federation. It is now clear that the programme has led to an unprecedented increase in school enrollment.
“I want to assure you that by the time we complete this year’s school census exercise, the number of out-of-school children would have dropped significantly,” he said.
He lamented that the major challenge of the out-of-school children has been the problem of Boko Haram insurgency, particularly in the North East.
He said that since the inception of insurgency in the North East, education has been under constant attack resulting in the killing of both learners and teachers as well as the destruction of education facilities.
According to him, over 22,295 teachers have been killed and 19,000 displaced in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states in the last nine years.
“An estimated 1,500 schools have been destroyed since 2014, with over 1,280 casualties among teachers and students.
“The crisis has further devastated the education system as children, teachers and schools are in the frontline of the conflict,” he said.
Speaking on teacher professionalism, Adamu disclosed that the Federal Ministry of Education through the Teacher’s Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) has registered a total of 1.8 million teachers nationwide while 780,000 of them have successfully gone through the process of licensing.
He stressed that the minimum qualification for teaching at the basic education is the National Certificate in Education (NCE), adding that by December 31, 2019, any teacher who does not possess this minimum qualification would have no business in the classroom.
Minister of Information, Mr Lai Mohammed who chaired the valedictory briefing commended Adamu and Anwukah for a harmonious working relationship, saying many ministries lack that type industrial harmony resulting in constant conflict of interest between the Minister and the Minister of State.
He also lauded Adamu for his transparency and accountability as demonstrated in his openness in handling the affairs of the ministry.
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