By Philip Yatai
The Kaduna State Government has begun the implementation of its Education Sector Donor Coordination Framework to improve efficiency and effectiveness of development assistance to the sector.
Mr Salisu Lawal, Director, Planning and Physical Development, Ministry for Education, said this in Kaduna, at the first education sector donor coordination meeting on Wednesday.
Lawal explained that the framework was developed with support from the ‘Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn’ (PERL), a governance programme funded by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
According to him, the goal is to ensure effective utilisation of resources available in the education sector by harnessing and strengthening the efforts of all partners.
“The idea is to bring all partners supporting the education sector together, share experiences and strengthen synergy toward achieving a common goal.
“We are happy that we were able to hold the first meeting and hope it will continue quarterly with a view to avoid duplication of efforts and improve service delivery in the sector,” he added.
The director said that multiplicity of donor support, operations and projects, require proper coordination for effective service delivery.
He identified some of the development partners as UNICEF, Save the Children International, FCDO PLANE, Teaching at the Right Level Africa, FCDO Partnership to Engage, Reform and Learn and Skills for Prosperity.
Others, he said were Bilingual Education Programme, Reaching Out of School Children, Second Chance Education Initiative, and World Bank supported Better Education Service Delivery for All and Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment.
Earlier, Mr Munkaila Usman, a Monitoring and Evaluation official in the ministry, said the objective of the meeting was to establish a well-coordinated approach to attracting and managing aid in the sector.
Usman added that the coordination meeting was also to eliminate duplication of efforts among partners.
“The meeting is also to map out education projects and programmes and develop effective monitoring and evaluation coordination systems and draw action and plan for effective implementation.”
Mr Mubarak Siraj, PLANE State Reform Facilitator, explained that the seven-year education programme was to invest in a more inclusive and effective education system in Nigeria.
According to him, the goal of the programme was to drive sustainable improvement in learning outcomes for Nigerian children.
He said that programme is being implemented in 728 schools across six local government areas of Kaduna South, Kaduna North, Jaba, Soba, Sanga and Sabon Gari.
He said that so far, PLANE in its second year of implementation, had developed materials on literacy and numeracy for primary 1 and 2 pupils’, teachers guide and literacy story anthology.
“We have also begun teachers training and conducted Early Grade Reading Assessment and Early Grade Mathematics Assessment, establishment and inauguration of Community Hubs.
“PLANE has equally supported the conduct of gap analysis of the state education policy, capacity gap assessment and currently supporting the State Quality Assurance Authority to develop a Private School Policy.
“Other progress include socio-demographic survey of non-state sector, graded assessment of private schools, scooping research topics on basic education and strengthening the functionality of Technical Working Groups,” he said. (NAN)
