A comprehensive survey of all Nigerian schools, from primary to tertiary, has been approved by President Bola Tinubu. The survey will gather information on schools’ physical attributes, live-in amenities, closeness to one another, and instructional infrastructure, among other things.
In addition, the number of instructors in Nigeria, their credentials, the training assistance they have received, the number of students in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, their gender, and their exam results would all be counted as part of the stocktake.
“A paucity of coordinated, verifiable, and authentic data on all aspects of the education sector in Nigeria, which is critical for planning,” was the basis Tinubu used to justify the system-wide measures announced on Thursday.
Thus, the action is intended to “completely revamp the education sector to enhance learning and skill development, boost enrollment, and guarantee the academic security of the country’s children,” according to the President in a statement that was signed by Ajuri Ngelale, Tinubu’s Special Advisor on Media and Publicity.
The announcement reads, “President Tinubu approves skill development for all educational levels, teacher training, and support nationwide.” It also establishes a national education data system.
According to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund, Nigeria is home to one in five of the world’s unschooled children. This amounts to 10.2 million primary school dropouts and 8.1 million junior secondary school dropouts as the nation struggles with banditry, multiple forms of poverty, and growing living expenses.
Ngelale, however, stated that the approved policies are recorded under the DOTS acronym, which stands for Teacher Training and Development, Out-of-School Children Education, Data Repository, and Skill Development and Acquisition.
The data is anticipated to direct state and federal initiatives for the general support and training of teachers.
Additionally, based on daily monitoring and year-by-year reporting, it will offer data on the gender ratio (boys and girls), their unique learning needs, and who is enrolled in school or has dropped out.
In order to host and distribute this data for real-time monitoring by the federal government, state governments, and local governments, the presidency also announced the establishment of a dedicated portal/dashboard in the Federal Ministry of Education, state governors’ offices, and chairpersons of local governments.
With the help of this new data monitoring architecture, the government will be able to monitor student achievement and provide a clear, data-driven system for interventions, particularly with regard to out-of-school youth, girls, and those with unique learning disabilities.
As per the Presidency, the NSF has been formulated with the aim of furnishing generations of Nigerians with the necessary aptitude to meet the dynamic demands of the global economy in the twenty-first century, by offering suitable skills at every educational level.
It also stated that “as students acquire specific skill sets, in addition to general knowledge, this framework is expected to address skill gaps, quality of education, and unemployment concerns.”
It promised Nigerians that, in keeping with President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, these programs would be successful in resetting learning and linking the “DOTS” for a major improvement of the country’s whole educational system.
