Professor Abdulraheem Sheu Adaramaja is the chairman, Kwara State Universal Basic Education (KWSUBEB) . In this interview with UMAR BAYO ABDULWAHB, he speaks on the state of basic education in the state prior to the coming of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq ‘s administration and the transformation that has taken place, among other sundry issues.

Public schools enrolment in Kwara state has increased in recent times. How are you coping with the pressure of providing quality basic education?

That is a statement of fact. Before this present administration, public schools in Kwara state witnessed serious de-enrolment because of poor infrastructures that gave birth to numerous mushroom private schools in town, but with the coming of Governor AbdulRazaq and of course renovations, construction, provision of modern infrastructures in our basic schools, these have brought about significant increase in pupils enrolment, especially Primary and Junior Secondary Schools in Kwara state. Let me put it on record that the introduction of Kwara Learn in the 10 local government areas which we intend to extend to other six local government areas in the next academic session has greatly assisted us to improve on the enrolment of pupils. The enrolment jacked up from about 35 per cent in the last academic session. So, we are hopeful that with the 2023 academic session now in progress, there will be significant increase in the enrolment.

Give us an assessment of the last placement test into secondary schools

Let me give you the lowdown of common entrance exam in the last few years. In 2019, it was about 33, 000 pupils that sat for the exam, in 2020, the figure increased to 40, 620, in 2021, the figure also increased to around 47, 015.For the last common entrance exam, we had over 66, 000 pupils in the state. It is because our schools are now better, our teachers are now well-motivated with the technology initiative teaching; which is the introduction of digital learning and of course our improved learning environment, are responsible for this huge increase in the last common entrance examination. I want to tell you that we are forced to open more access to education by establishing more Junior Secondary Schools in the state to cater for these large increase in the enrolment, it’s a public believe in the capacity of the state government to deliver at the basic education level.

Tell us about Kwara Learn

Kwara Learn is a digital initiative in teaching and learning. It is the brain-child of our governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq. In the early part of 2022, we started with four pilot local government areas of Kwara state namely, Offa, Ilorin West, Ilorin East and Baruten local government. The success stories of the four pilot local governments made us to push to the governor to increase the tenet and the jurisdiction of Kwara Learn to other local government areas of Kwara state, and of course the governor approved our request by adding six local governments during the last academic session. Now, we are at the stage of incorporating other local government areas to make it 16. With Kwara Learn, teachers are no longer writing lesson notes, the lessons have been pre-loaded in the tab, then the attendance is being marked with ease, teachers themselved are being forced to attend to pupils and students in classes.

The practice of not going to school has been reduced to the barest minimum because if you are not within the vicinity of the school environment, the tablet will give a feed back to us. You can see the monitors that we use in monitoring the attendance. If anything is happening in Baruten and I look at Baruten local government , I should be able to know the number of teachers actually teaching at a particular time. So, it also reduces laziness and improves punctuality on the part of teachers and pupils. So with Kwara Learn, teaching is made simple, easy and friendly.

What about teachers’ welfare?

Yes , we know that for learning environment to be conducive even when you have all the schools renovated, constructed ,you have all the instructional materials, without teachers motivation, you are going nowhere. I am sure the unpalatable story of our teachers in the hands of the last administration still comes open because during that period teachers were subjected to what we call geri gedi (instalmental payment), teachers were not regularly paid, teachers don’t attend capacity building training during the previous administration. When we came on board, promotion was zero in the hands of the previous administration. So, we advised governor, let us look at the welfare of our teachers. So I can tell you now that apart from the consequential adjustment for teachers and non-teaching staff in SUBEB and the Teaching Service Commission, the governor has kept on giving promotion to teaching and non-teaching staff under my leadership at the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB). On promotion, I want to tell you that the last time teachers were promoted was in 2016, and of course, the 2016 promotion exercise was highly selective. Only people they (former administration) believed were close to the government at that time benefitted. But this time, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq approved the 2017 promotion exercise with cash backing, he also approved 2018 promotion with cash backing, 2019 with cash backing , 2020 promotion with cash backing and of course 2021 with cash backing .We have written for 2022. These are some of the motivating programmes of our governor that is encouraging our teachers to put in their best.

We have embarked on series of promotion exercise initiative for our teachers, and with that, our teachers have gone through series of training in this 21st century pedagogy. These include; the School-Based Management training, SMART ‘A’ training, Vocational training , ECD training, training for our teachers and Supervisors .All these training were fully funded by our governor. And of course, with the support of UBEC, we have also secured a number of national and international training for our teachers, we have collaborated with UBEC to ensure that our teachers have equal opportunity with other states in terms of capacity building. We also entered into MOU with National Teachers Training Institute in Kaduna and regular training have been offered to our teachers as and when due. We are in synergy with the Nigerian Institute of Educational Research, Akure, Ondo State. All these organs or bodies have consistently given free training opportunities for our teachers , these are some of the capacity building training we have covered at the national and local level.

For the instructional level, we have sent our teachers to Tanzanian and Zimbabwe, I also went to South Korea and some individuals have been sent out to attend national and international training courtesy of the enabling environment offered to us by our governor.

What are the feedbacks from teachers and pupils?

You see, investment in education comes over time, it is unlike when you go to market to buy tomatoes and pepper and will say this is what I have gained. The types of investment the governor has done in basic education has started giving us results. In 2021 and for the first time, pupils from Kwara basic education represented Kwara state in National School debate competition and came first beating several other schools in Lagos. We won a trophy for the state and of course that made them to represent Nigeria in world international school debate championship that came up in Dubai last October. At that edition in Dubai, United Arab Emirate. Kwara team that represented Nigeria also came second. Also, if you listen to our weekly radio programme, parents are also calling to attest to the performances of their children in public schools. Our children are now doing favourably well in debate, quize competition, our children are doing favourably well in Spelling B competitions and others. Kwara state is the defending champion. Our children are now in the camp, we are preparing them for the next edition that will come up in October 2023 , precisely October 23- 27 and we hope to make the state proud again.

After all of these, what next?

Yes , apart from the 605 Schools that were reconstructed, renovated and remodelled, we have also embarked on series of projects which include provision of fencing for 33 schools across the 16 local government areas of Kwara state because security of lives and property, and of course in order to prevent encroachment on the schools land. The governor, in conjunction with the Universal Basic Education, approved the fencing of 33 Schools that is in addition to the 605 Schools we have worked on. The governor has also approved provision of instructional materials for our schools because he is a listener and the person we can say is the Father of basic education in the state. He has also approved the implementation and payment of counterpart fund for 2020 projects, and also given approval for 2021 counterpart funds. The 2020 is on, your paper is one of those that assisted us with the advert and we assure that we will also do same for 2021 insha Allah.