‘FG Committed to Education for All (EFA)’

Minister of Education, Professor Rukayyatu Rufai

By Muhammad Bello

The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to the goal of Education For All (EFA).

President Goodluck Jonathan made this known Saturday at the national flag-off of instructional materials to basic education institutions in the country held in Uyo, the Akwa-Ibom State capital.

The president, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo said that the issue of basic education would continue to be addressed holistically in order to ensure that the goal of Education For ALL (EFA) and a provision of a solid foundation for other education are met.

President Jonathan also reiterated that his administration’s efforts at national transformation would only achieve the desired results if they were predicated on the provision of quality education at all levels and for the development of human resources in the country.

In this regard, he stated the Federal Government has redoubled its efforts in policy making and implementation of tangible innovations in education that served as catalyst for other sectors of the economy through appropriate and sustainable reforms in structure, institutional arrangement and governance as well as funding and resource mobilisation.

A statement by the spokesperson to the Vice President, Alhaji Sani Umar, quoted the president as saying “In order to compliment the current reforms in the sector, our investment in education has remained a priority in-spite of other competing demands.

“We have made significant efforts to address issues that could otherwise continue to pose threats to our desire to offer the citizenry the necessary knowledge and skill to effectively participate in our development efforts. This has translated into the establishment of nine new federal universities with increased funding for the existing ones.”

The president furthermore stated that his administration has introduced innovative programmes like the Almajiri Education, Girl-Child Education Initiative, and out-of-the –school Boy Child Education to ensure that no child suffered due to his/her background.

Jonathan affirmed that the supply of textbooks and other instructional materials has been receiving prominence in his administration’s basic education delivery approaches.

He said that the goal of the exercise was to ensure a 1:1 ratio of pupil to book in all subjects taught in all public basic education institutions and that information reaching him had indicated that the ratio has been attained in core subject areas at primary school level in many states of the federation.

While congratulating the direct beneficiaries, he enjoined parents and teachers to utilise the resources for the benefit of the children.

Speaking earlier, the Minister of Education, Professor Rukayyatu Rufai, stated that education was key to the Transformation Agenda of the Federal Government, which was aimed at transforming the society and ensuring global competitiveness. In this regard, the minister further averred that the Jonathan administration developed a four-year strategic plan for the development of the education sector with the goals of “access” and “quality”.

According to the minister, this occasion was part of the drive towards enhancing quality and that access to education has been greatly enhanced through the implementation of various programmes like the Almajiri Education, the Girls Education, Access Campaign, Back-to-School, amongst others.

“As access improves, our attention is also on the quality of education provided to our children. It is for this reason that attention is focused on the provision of those resources that would help to enhance the teaching and learning experience of our schools,” said Rufai.

The minister also stated that in the past year, over N10 billion has been expended in the provision of books and other instructional materials to the basic education sector in Nigeria.

On his part, the host governor, Godswill Akpabio, expressed his gratitude to the federal government for the choice of his state to flag-off this year’s exercise. He noted that the best investment any government could make was in the education of its children and that the federal government has taken education as a major priority area in the country.

The distribution of instructional materials to basic education institutions is a UBE Intervention Fund programme to basic public institutions in Nigeria launched in 2009. Over 96,346,675 books on Mathematics, English Language, Basic Science & technology and Social Studies for primary schools; and library materials for Junior Secondary Schools have been distributed to public basic education institutions across the country.