By Gabriel Dike
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Executive Secretary, Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, has advised state governors to sustain the tempo of basic education in their various states to ensure pupils get quality education.
Bobboyi spoke at the four-day training workshop for state Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Executive Chairmen from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja, held at Lagos Business School, Lekki.
He charged the SUBEB chairmen to address the issues of corruption, lack of furniture and quality teachers. The UBEC boss also stressed the need to restrategies to enhance better service delivery.
The executive secretary revealed that 75 percent of basic education pupils do not have furniture, stating that our children sit on the floor to study.
His words: Unfortunately, if you go to our primary schools, pupils struggle to read and write. For six years, we graduated pupils, who cannot read or write.
“It could be the problem of SUBEB teachers. Our employment process is very bad. Sometimes, the teachers are imposed on us. At times the teachers are not qualified.”
Dr Bobboyi disclosed that the commission is working with SUBEB to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country from its current 10million children, which are found in the North.
According to him, statistics from UBEC indicate that out-of-school children from ages six to 11 decreased from 10.2 to 9.6 million between 2018 and 2021 and have been projected to reduce further to 9.5 million in 2022.
He observed that global data on out-of-school children between ages six to 18 years released by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) shows that Nigeria now has about 20million out-of-school children, which stakeholders believe is for ages six to 11 years.
The UBEC boss said people do not understand the nature and how UNESCO arrived at the figure of 20 million out-of-school children, stressing “UNESCO has adopted a new methodology with the Sustainable Development Goal in mind that was used to arrive at the figures that added ages six to 18 years, which is from primary school to senior secondary level, to reach the 20 million mark.
Said he: “UBEC has its own statistics and has presented them to UNESCO, which has been validated with figures, and the only thing we need to do is to push and ensure that we reduce the number of out-of-school children in the country.”
Bobboyi called on UBEC, SUBEB and other relevant stakeholders to synergies to move basic education forward in the 36 states and FCT.
“Basic education has its challenges in the country, and we are in a difficult financial situation in the country.” The quantity of resources that are available has started to decline and is not what it used to be, which is creating some problems.
“With up to 50 million children in basic education from primary to secondary school, various states have been able to at least provide for the pupils in a manner that is commensurate with the resources available, so we must continue to use the tools and resources at our disposal to make sure there is a different and sustainable improvement in basic education, “ UBEC boss noted.
At the workshop, the Director, System Study and Review Department of the Independent Corrupt Practices (ICPC), Abuja, Mr. A. Udofia, urged UBEC, SUBEB and stakeholders to safeguard and manage public resources with integrity and according to relevant laws.
In his paper titled: “Accountability and Transparency in UBEC Projects and Programmes”, Udofia advised chairmen and boards of SUBEB to read and understand anti-corruption laws, especially, the Public Procurement Act 2007.
The Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) in a paper by Mr. Adebowale Adedokun, said what is required is people with good character and fear of God to be in charge, adding, success is about people. Public interest before personal or political gain.”