Reforms to transform Edo’s education sector and tackle learning poverty in the State took centre stage at the Africa Heads of State Human Capital Summit (HCS), as the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, impressed African leaders and policymakers at the confab, sharing his government’s achievements in the State’s basic education system as well as the entire education ecosystem over the past six years.
Edo is the only sub-national invited as a state to the Africa Heads of State Summit and continues to stand out as a sub-national that is demonstrating strong political will and action to accelerate investments in learning and human capacity development.
The Summit, taking place in Tanzania’s port city of Dar es Salaam between July 25-26, has in attendance over 1200 delegates, including African leaders, policymakers, and other development stakeholders from over 30 African countries.
Obaseki, who is a panellist at the Summit spoke on the theme, “From Strategy to Implementation in Education,” sharing insights on how the government’s bold and strong institutional reforms have translated to improved learning outcomes, identifying ongoing efforts to accelerate and sustain the gains recorded in the State’s education ecosystem.
According to the governor, “Edo State has become a reference on how a sub-national can undertake massive transformation and significantly improve learning outcomes in the public school system.”
He further noted, “We have over the past six years deployed significant resources to improve teaching and learning outcomes, focusing on the basic education sector with over 380,000 students from various public schools across the State currently benefiting from the State’s Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) Programme. With the success recorded in the basic sector, we are expanding the programme to capture secondary schools and tertiary institutions in the State.
“As a government, we understand the need for quality manpower in the overall development of our State and are investing aggressively in this regard, building the capacity of our people and ensuring a massive transformation throughout the entire educational system, from basic education to senior school, technical colleges and tertiary institutions, to guarantee highly-skilled graduates that can compete in the global workforce.”
