Obaseki: Nigeria’s dysfunctional educational system stalling desired transformation of education sector

...says Edo closing 50% gap in education via reforms, programmes

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has said one of the nation’s biggest challenges is its dysfunctional educational system, noting that the State has set up parameters to play its part in closing the 50 percent education gap in the country.

Obaseki, who noted that the government is emphasising strengthening foundational learning and improving learning outcomes, said, “The drop in the ratio between primary six and SSS1 is 50 percent and until we focus on that we will continue to have problems in education.”

Speaking recently, the governor said the gap is a result of the lack of communication and close relationship between primary and secondary schools.

He said, “For us, it is about people, focusing on talents. We realised that foundational learning was very weak and we saw this when we had to deal with the issue of human trafficking. We have invested hugely in the past six years to strengthen foundational learning because without that you can't build anything else in terms of developing talents.

“We’ve looked again at the entire educational policy. The biggest challenge we have today is a dysfunctional educational system. 25 years ago, we changed our educational policy but we didn’t realign that change with reality.”

He further said that Edo State is supporting vocational training and partnering with various companies in the area of technology, training children on technology and entertainment.

The governor said, “For us, it’s about less certificates, more handiwork as we're focusing on technical education. So, we have revamped our College of Agriculture, College of Nursing Sciences, Technical College and Colleges of Education.

“We are supporting vocational education because there is a large population of young people who have fallen through the cracks but they are talented. So, we are partnering with various companies in the area of technology. We have a programme with Decagon to train youths on software development and engineering.

“In terms of entertainment, we are working with a number of producers and this year alone, we are shooting in excess of 30 Nollywood movies in Benin City because we have created the infrastructure for artists and producers to come and succeed.”

“Today, we are investing in communities, giving them resources and we have drastically reduced crime rate and acts of violence,” Obaseki said.