Our Target Is To Further Reduce Out Of School Children By 10 Percent — Oyo Education Commissioner

…as Govt Hosts BESDA AF-TESS Implementation Support Mission

Oyo State Commissioner for Education, Science, and Technology, Prof . Salihu Adelabu, on Tuesday, said that the Governor Seyi Makinde led administration is working on the path of reducing the numbers of out of school children in the state by ten percent.

Prof. Salihu Adelabu , said this at a 3-Day Support Mission Organized by the Oyo State Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology for three BESDA AF- TESS Beneficiary States, that is Oyo, Adamawa and Kastina, in Collaboration with the World Bank at the University of Ibadan.

The Commissioner, explained that all school aged children are expected to have access to quality education, irrespective of their background.

He hinted that the government is leaving no stone unturned to ensure that residents have access to quality education, thereby improving numeracy and literacy levels in the state.

While enumerating the importance of the BESDA – AF- TESS project, Prof. Salihu Adelabu , revealed that the programme is in line with the Sustainable Development Goal four and Seventeen, that by 2030, education should be for all.

He said further: “This BESDA Additional Financing is targeting four major points. First is access, there should be school for all, all the school aged children must be in the school.

The other one is quality; that is why we are strengthening the system, we are putting a lot of things in place to make sure that there is access, there is quality and there is improvement in our numeracy and literacy level in the state”.

“In the last administration of Governor Seyi Makinde, 20 percent of our out of school children were back in school, and we are working around 10 percent because we want that to be reduced drastically”

In his remarks, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Adamawa State, Dr. Umar Garba Tella , said concerted Efforts would be made so that the aims and objectives of the program development partners in Adamawa State comes into fruition.

He expressed gratitude to the World Bank for supporting the government of Adamawa State in its determined efforts to provide the children the right access to acquire quality education, regardless of where they live.

“This project is a performance-based project, two indicators were given to us in Adamawa, and we are happy to partner with the World Bank. Fundamentally, we want a situation whereby there won’t be any child in the state, that is out of school, there won’t be any school without a teacher”

Also speaking, Education Specialist, World Bank, Martin De Simone, hinted that the intervention was targeted at improving the quality of teaching and learning in basic schools, providing infrastructure and increasing the numbers of classrooms.

He advised participating states to learn from each other and focus largely on how to achieve results within the program life span.

In their separate remarks, the National and Oyo State Project Coordinators, Dr. Mrs. Folake Olatunji David and Dr. Bamidele Odekunle said the program is basically to transform the education system by identifying gaps in the participating states and offering necessary support to bring about inclusive quality education for all and ensure that children with special needs are not being marginalized.

The duo revealed that the purpose of the programme was for the three states to meet and review the level of jobs done by each state and share valuable ideas.

Dr. Odekunle also affirmed that the project has added an immeasurable valve to education standards in Oyo state, noting that over a million children are expected to be mobbed in the streets to schools in the three beneficiary states.

E-Signed Media Team, MoES&T, 27th March, 2024