The Edo State Governor Mr. Godwin Obaseki yesterday unveiled some of the strategies designed by his administration for the revamping of Basic Education system in the state.
Speaking at a one-day Basic Education Stakeholders’ Forum in Benin City, Obaseki explained that the Information and Communication Technology-based plan would adequately prepare students for the challenges of the 21st Century.
“The future of our socio-economic growth and advancement depends on how well we prepare our children for the challenges of the 21st Century. Our children need a solid educational foundation particularly at the basic education level to properly fit into the technological era. Our emphasis is on teacher training and professionalism,” the governor said.
He lamented that currently “the teachers we have in our classes are not Information and Communication Technology (ICT) compliant and cannot expand their horizon,” and stressed that “these types of teachers produce pupils with weak foundation who find it difficult to cope with life’s challenges. We have to provide our children with good quality education and ensure that it is accessible and affordable by all in the state.”
He traced the rot in the education system to everyone’s inaction and failure to rise up to the challenge when basic education system was contaminated and compromised, which in turn created irreparable distortion and imbalance in the system that all of us are paying dearly for today.
He advised teachers who are not ready for the ongoing reform in the education sector to seek redeployment or voluntary retirement and stressed that “indolence, absenteeism, indiscipline, sabotage and other actions that contribute to the decay in our education system will no longer be tolerated.”
The governor assured that his administration would ensure that pupils and teachers receive the needed support as a reward system has been put in place to boost the morale of “teachers that go above and beyond the call of duty to give our children the best learning experience.”
Recalling the glorious days of basic education in the country, Obaseki said “the success achieved by some of us can be attributed to the sound basic education we received. We have attained this height today because we were properly taught.”
He called on parents and other stakeholders in the education sector to support his administration’s determination to re-enact basic education by building upon what worked in the past and leverage on technology in order to give pupils the opportunity to excel in life.
He further assured that every school in the state will receive intervention in the forms of teaching aids, teachers and new classroom blocks amongst others, to produce the best minds that will develop the state and the nation at large.
