By Bob MajiriOghene Etemiku
Edo State governor, Mr Godwin Obaseki, during the week, at the festival Hall of Osadebey Avenue celebrated the 3rd Anniversary of his Basic Educational Sector Transformation, EdoBest, saying that he decided to focus on basic education because it ‘is our first interaction with knowledge’.
Government documents say that EdoBest programme was launched in 2018 along three thematic areas of access, quality and system strengthening. According to Mr Obaseki, apart from the EdoBest being his greatest legacy since becoming governor, significantly more pupils now have schools that are more conducive for learning. Across the state, 9,632 classrooms have been renovated, 204 classrooms have constructed, 37,629 pupil desks and chairs have been distributed and 32 fences have been constructed.
‘We are proud of how far we have come with EdoBest; our results have not gone unnoticed by parents throughout Edo state. Public trust in the public education system is now at an all-time high, we recorded a 20% increase in public school enrolment in three years due to the EdoBest programme’, Mr Obaseki said.
The 3rd Anniversary of the EdoBest programme was a hybrid cast streamed on Channels Television, the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, and the Africa Independent Television, AIT. According to Mr Obaseki, viewers from 21 countries were logged on to view the celebration. Amongst those who attended the festivities included Rt Hon Philip Shaibu (Edo deputy governor), Joan Osa Oviawe (executive chairperson , Edo state basic education board SUBEB), Mr Stevenson Ehime, Hon Mrs Elizabeth Ighodaro, Rev Fr Anthony Ekhaisomi (board members representing Edo Central and Edo South respectively).
Keynote addresses were delivered by profile panelists like Jammie Saavedra (education global practice at world bank group), Mrs Julie Oyegun (global diversity and inclusion consultant), Jay Kimmelman (CEO, Bridge international academies), Peter Hawkins (UNICEF rep in Nigeria) and Mrs Osarhiemen Isaac-Aluyi(specials needs education expert).
At the pupil interactive session with Mr Obaseki facilitated by Ebaide Momodu, primary 6 pupil of Emotan primary school, Mr Obaseki who said he started reading and writing from age three, and enjoined the pupils to strive to acquire knowledge, and to be diligent with their studies if they must succeed.
‘We are trying to train a new generation of children from the foundation stage who will be champions of the next generation. Therefore, there are many institutions that are being repositioned to produce a certain crop of graduates that are different from the ones we have today’, Mr Obaseki said.
In spite of these claims though, Edo state has been at the centre of an educational crisis. Most of her public tertiary institutions like the ICE, Schools of Nursing, Agriculture, and teacher training colleges are under lock and key. Most teachers in some of these schools are not being paid with the shut-down of those schools. With the shutting down of these tertiary institutions therefore, there has been no time-line for their re-opening, raising critical questions concerning what will become of Mr Obaseki’s EdoBest efforts after he leaves office.
‘My administration launched EdoBest to deliver holistic transformation to our basic education sector. We wanted to truly diagnose the challenges and reach the core issues of accountability, professional development and technological access, addressing them at source. EdoBest was designed to target specific areas of governance and our education institutions, community participation, leadership, teacher and curriculum development, and not just infrastructure as has often been the case’, Mr Obaseki said during his speech.
