By Idris Ibrahim
A former Minister of Education and economic policy expert, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili said that she has done so many things to ensure that the vision of education is sustained in Nigeria, and across the Sub-Saharan Africa regions.
The humanitarian, and a renowned activist, revealed that she designed a programme under the auspices of Human Capital Africa, HCA, that supervises the standard of education at a foundational level.
Dr. Ezekwesili made the proclamation Thursday during her pre-diamond birthday symposium held at the auditorium of the National Universities Commission, (NUC), in Maitama, Abuja.
“Human Capital Africa is trying to make sure that all our political and policy leaders understand that they understand the importance of the foundational level of education, because, research has shown us that if the children don’t gain literacy and numeracy skills by the age of 10, at the level that children in other continents and countries of the world gain them, then we are not coming out of poverty.”
“Currently, 9 out of 10 African children don’t gain that level of proficiency in literacy and numeracy. That’s a colossal failure, and so, what we are doing through the HCA is to change the narrative,” she said.
However, the former Vice President of World Bank’s African region during an intergenerational conversations further disclosed that she designed a programme while serving as a minister of education during General Olusegun Obasanjo’s administration that improved the quality of education in Nigeria.
“We had to design a system of quality assurance in education that would tell us whether children are indeed learning. Secondly, we had to improve the quality of teachers which had been a problem because majority of the teachers in primary and secondary schools were; Teachers Certificate Grade II holders, and some twenty years before I was minister, I was said that we needed to do away with that, we needed to upgrade the teachers certification and their basic professionalism to be in the classroom, but, it was not implemented,” she revealed.
Therefore, the revered economic policy expert further disclosed that while serving as minister of education, she implemented a policy that carried out a massive upgrade of teachers known as; “Teachers Upgrade Programme” across the country.
“Because research shows that when you have quality teachers in the classroom, there is a greater probability. More than 40 percent of what happened in learning is determined by the quality of teacher and then another 20 to 30 percent is determined by the teaching methods not just quality but just knowing how to teach. So, we started professionalism of teaching so that we could bring the kind of coaching that teachers needed in other to be effective,” she noted.
The colorful event was Chaired by Frank Nweke Jr. and anchored by famous comedian, Ali Baba with an outpouring series of special songs, tributes, and poetry presentations by Dike Chukwumerije amongst others.
Prominent personalities that graced the occasion are; former governor of Anambra State and presidential candidate of Labour Party, LP in the just concluded general elections in Nigeria, Peter Obi, Bishop John Onaikan, Arch Bishop emeritus of Abuja Diocese, Olumide Apkata, immediate past president of Nigerian Bar Association amongst others.
Dr. Ezekwesili was a co-convener of the #BringBackOurGirls campaign during Goodluck Jonathan administration. The activist participated in series of peaceful protest demanding for the release of over 200 secondary school girls abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in Borno State.
No fewer than 276 girls between the age of 16 to 18 years old were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok in Borno state by Boko Haram terrorists on the night of April 14, 2014.
