THE executive secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, says the commission has set aside 15 per cent of its matching grant to the state governments for the funding of early childhood education in the country.
The revised National Policy on Education 6th edition (2014) stipulates that a one-year pre-primary education should be an essential component of the 10-year formal basic education programme to be implemented, funded and managed by the government in Nigeria.
A Ministerial Strategic Plan (2016-2019) entitled ‘Education for Change’ being developed by the Federal Ministry of Education for the education sector also establishes that the pre-primary education is an important development that characterises Early Child Care and Development Education (ECCDE), which has now been segmented into ECCDE (age 0-5) and one year pre-primary education (age 5-6).
Speaking during the monitoring exercise of the test administered on some pupils and students of some selected schools, in the ongoing national Assessment of Learning Achievements in schools, Bobboyi underscored the importance attached to the Early Childhood Education by the current administration.
He led a team of his management staff and a representative of the Minister of Education to monitor the examination at Junior Secondary School, Jabi, and Pilot Secondary, Wuse Zone 5 both in Abuja where 80 pupils and students were assessed.
In each school, 20 pupils were selected from primary 5 and 6, and another 20 from the junior secondary (representing 40 each) were assessed.
He noted that the exercise commenced with assessment in English, Science and Technology, adding that the conduct of the examination was smooth, based on the progressive reports received from the 36 states of the federation since the assessment commenced on November 22.
The UBEC chief disclosed that the commission would soon start analysis on the state of learning in Nigerian schools, the outcome of which he said would help the Federal Government in the efforts to reposition basic education in Nigeria.
According to him, over 850 staff and 450 supporting staff were deployed across the states of the federation to efficiently conduct the exercise, saying the commission engaged staff that had no vested interest in the outcomes of the assessment.
“On ensuring credibility, we made sure that the staff we engaged were those that would not have any vested interest in the outcomes. We have the National Youth Service Corps members because we saw the need for neutrality. We are confident that the outcomes will be very credible,” he said.
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