Date: 2016-06-09

Perturbed by falling standard of education, the Kwara State government yesterday spoke of its plan to convoke education summit in the state.

The summit, billed for September this year, would feature educationists, experts and stakeholders from within and outside the state in the bid to return to past glory. Beside, a total of 250 teachers are due for training in entrepreneurship in line with the policy thrust of the government on skill acquisition. The training is to be jointly conducted by the state Ministry of Education and Centre for Entrepreneurship of the Kwara State University, Malete.

Addressing a ministerial briefing in Ilorin, state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Mr Musa Ayinla Yeketi, said the government was concerned with the undesirable status the education sector had found itself.

The briefing was conducted at the behest of his counterpart in the Information and Communications Ministry, Mr Mahmud Babatunde Ajeigbe. The education commissioner said the state government was desirous to swiftly clear the rot in the education system, saying no effort would be spared to rejuvenate the system for the better.

Yeketi said the teachers, after acquiring training in entrepreneurship, would in turn impart in students owing to the conviction of the present administration on skill acquisition for students before leaving schools. The commissioner, who used the briefing to render account of his stewardship in the last seven months, disclosed that curriculum modus of various subjects had been distributed across public schools while effort was on to replicate same in private schools.But Yeketi was not pleased with the springing up of private schools in the state with disregard for due process.

He disclosed that many of the schools had been closed in recent times and threatened that the government would still come hard on any of the schools caught in the act. The commissioner stated that his office had dispatched surveillance teams across the state to monitor the activities of schools while those found wanting would be duly sanctioned.

He informed that some staff of a public school were also sanctioned recently for absenting themselves when the monitoring team visited the school in Ilorin East Local Government Area of the state. Meanwhile, activities at the International Vocational Centre in Ajase-Ipo, Irepodun Local Government Area of the state would commence early next year following completion of the centre.

Yeketi told journalists that the state government was already meeting with experts abroad to make available required machinery and technical staff for the take-off of the centre.

"We need to improve on infrastructural facilities in some of the schools. We discovered that the attitude of teachers to teaching was nothing to write home about. I was at Agbeyangi Secondary School in Ilorin East Local Government Area of the state two times. They have 34 teaching staff, but I met on the ground 19 teaching staff. The rest were nowhere to be found. The three Vice- Principals were not there. Those absent on the two occasions were sanctioned. With that monitoring, teachers have been put on their toes and they are complying with what they ought to do. We embarked on training and retraining of teachers.

"At the initial stage of this administration, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed mentioned that the policy thrust of this government in education is skill acquisition. The belief is that our students, before they go out of secondary and technical schools, must have gained one skill or the other. To do this, the government is going to train 250 teachers in entrepreneurship. This is going to be done in conjunction with KWASU entrepreneurship centre.

"The curriculum modus of various subjects were distributed to public schools, arrangement to distribute the modus to private schools is equally in progress. "If you look at the way private schools are springing up in the state is very alarming. The ministry has taken it up, our teams are already out, asking for those schools that had gotten approval. Those without approval, we started closing them down.

"Not quite long ago, the governor laid the foundation of Adult Vocational Training Centre at Igbaja. This centre is of international status. In the state today, we have about 12 vocational centre namely Bode-Saadu, Lafiagi, Patigi, Shao, Agbonda, Omu-Aran, Share, one in Alapa and one in Ilorin South Local Government Area.

"This has been the effort of the state government to allow youths and dropouts to acquire skills.

"The construction of international vocational centre is now completed. The taking over of that school will be done anytime from now. The governor is already working in partnership with consultants in U.S. to provide us with necessary machinery and technical staff for the college to take off early next year", he said.