By Idahosa Musa
Benin City, Nigeria – Edo State Commissioner for Education, Dr. Paddy Emmanuel Iyamu, has asserted that Governor Monday Okpebholo-led administration in the state is committed to better the lives of students with quality education under conducive environment.
He said that the Governor in his avowed determination to improve the education standard and well-being of students across Edo said that the recently launched Edo Cert 2.0, a technological platform, would enable students in the state to have seamless access to their certificates online.
Dr. Iyamu who stated this while interacting with journalists in Benin on the Okpebholo’s achievements in the educational sector under 100 days in office, said the current administration has recorded tremendous achievements within the short period of assumption of office.
“For our 100 days in office, we have achieved quite a lot. we have just launched a technological platform, where all Edo State students can go online and assess their certificates.
“Before, you usually have to go and start checking for your certificates manually, and we had cases of students misplacing their certificates, and they would start all over, going to their different schools to look for copies of their manual certificates,
“But all that will now be a thing of the past, with the unveiling of Edo Cert 2.0, to ensure that our students have access to technology. All you need to do is just to put the students’ numbers on the platform, and you can print your certificates. So, these are one of the things that we launched”, he said
Continuing, Iyamu said: “When the incumbent Edo State Governor, Senator Monday Okpebholo, came on board, we went to the length and breadth of the state and the three senatorial districts, to identify some of the infrastructure decay in our schools, and we saw quite a number of them.
“Edo governor immediately gave a marching order that the decayed and dilapidated schools be renovated and reconstructed. In some cases, we have demolished many schools and reconstructed them as we speak, because the governor is someone who matches words with actions. So, immediately that directive was given, we swung into action and today, the story is different”,
“I am sure you must have seen some videos of Eweka Primary School, Oruma Primary School, Irrua Girls, Ekhile Primary School, New Era Girls Secondary School, and the list is endless. We are working day and night tirelessly to ensure that the average Edo child has access to education, in a conducive environment”.
The Education Commissioner further revealed that while the administration of Senator Okpebholo has approved the employment of 500 teachers in the first tranche into the workforce. He said that the subvention of Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma was also increased from paltry N41 million to N500,000 million.
“One of the major areas again we looked at was the area of the workforce. The Governor hasn’t started the revamp of schools, we needed teachers to teach our students in those schools. Hence, he approved the employment of over 500 teachers to help strengthen the workforce”, Iyamu revealed.
According to Dr. Iyamu, the current administration in Edo has prioritized skill acquisition through technical education, adding that the current reality is that paper certificate can no longer guarantee 100% employment for the teaming youths.
“The place of skill acquisition cannot be over emphasized. We have gotten to a point in history where just the certificates cannot no longer guarantee 100% employment for the teeming youth we have.
“We have people who have gone to school at the end of the day seeking for jobs. Some of them, they now turn the other way to start engaging in some social vices, but having a youthful population with the required skill is also another dimension of employment creation and wealth creation as well.
“So we looked at the Technical Colleges across the three senatorial zones in Edo. We are presently overhauling the syllabus of our Technical Colleges to meet the present day challenges so that they can proffer solutions to the present day realities and problems in the society,” Iyamu stated
While disclosing that part of the achievements of the governor is the recent induction of 128 medical doctors from AAU who were hitherto denied induction during the last administration, the commissioner informed that the governor has facilitated the accreditation of eight courses across the tertiary institutions in the state.
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