By Gabriel Dike
Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu has said that the federal government and World Bank’s critical interventions in some states known as ‘Nigeria Partnership for Education Project (NIPEP) and the State Education Programme Investment Project’ (SEPIP) have yielded positive results in addressing the twin issues of access and quality education delivery at the basic level in the country.
The minister stated this in his address at the Joint National Project Steering Committee meeting of the two projects held at the ministry to review progress made so far in the implementation of these projects.
Mallam Adamu acknowledged the success story of the projects, noting that while NIPEP has boosted access and quality in the five affected states of Kaduna, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa and Sokoto, SEPIP on the other hand has eased the deployment of teachers to rural areas in Anambra, Bauchi and Ekiti states.
He also noted that the SEPIP additional financing component is aiding the return of students to education in the insurgency-affected North East Nigeria by providing incentives to encourage the return of teachers and improve the learning environment.
The minister, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Arch. Sonny Echono revealed that three SEPIP states have surpassed their target for 2016 in the deployment of qualified teachers to rural areas. “For example, 4,905 teachers were deployed to rural areas in Anambra State as against the target of 1,761. Similarly, Bauchi State deployed 3,431 teachers as against the target of 3,425. In the same year, Ekiti State deployed 1,755 teachers to the rural areas as against the target of 1,304,” he said.
He stressed that concerted efforts were made towards addressing shortage of teachers in core subjects of English, Mathematics and Sciences through the revised deployment policy and incentives for rural teachers.
The education minister stated that NIPEP states were fast tackling out-of-school children challenge through special scholarships and provision of infrastructure, among other measures.
According to him, a total of 135,020 out of the end target of 174,001 pupils have benefited from the special scholarship in the last two academic sessions, representing 77.60% achievement, while 5,352 teachers in the NIPEP states also benefited from the Female Teachers Scholarship Scheme (FTSS) as part of measures to ensure role models for the pupils and guarantee availability of qualified teachers in the areas.
Also at the occasion was the World Bank Senior Education Specialist, Dr. Tunde Adekola who enjoined states to be very specific in presenting their needs to the projects and assured of the Bank’s commitment to supporting development of education in the country.