By Ogbebor Tony Ikponmwosa
The future of any nation rests on the shoulders of the young generation, and it is the duty of the Government of the day to help these young generations grow, by providing them with a suitable academic (educational) and moral structure that will enable them to prepare for the very tasking future ahead while enabling them to play a vital role in the development of their immediate society.
Education is the very soul of a nation, the key to its secured future but it is a well-known fact that Nigeria’s education sector is deteriorating awfully. This ugly state of the country’s education has been attributed over time to a number of factors including underfunding, low-quality teaching personnel, poor infrastructure, poverty of curriculum, and absence of dedicated practitioners.
In Edo State, the reverse seems to be the case as the State Government led by Governor Godwin Obaseki has made commendable achievements and attained a high level of success in the development of the State’s Educational sector.
When Governor Obaseki came into office, he made a promise to the people of Edo State assuring them of the total transformation of the education sector. In April 2018, Governor Godwin Obaseki initiated the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) initiative with an ambitious goal – the complete transformation of basic education in Edo State. After a successful implementation of Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation, (EdoBEST 1.0), the State Government has launched EdoBEST 2.0 to address issues in senior secondary and technical education.
Within just six months of its official launch, it has unveiled 7,000 Government-trained teachers and is set to radically impact the lives of 150,000 Edo children. Ultimately, it will reach 15,000 across 1,500 public schools, impacting 300,000 children.
EdoBEST is the flagship initiative of the Edo State Government, aiming to transform the public education system and learning outcomes in Edo. It is a comprehensive programme to develop State education across five pillars of work: governance, teacher training and development, community partnerships, infrastructure, and the local education board. Leading technology-based education provider, Bridge International Academies was brought in as a technical partner with the Government to support teacher training and development, helping to boost the capability of all Edo government teachers.
Governor Obaseki explained that: “In Edo State, we have identified the critical role of teachers in our growth plan and this informed our decision to birth the Edo State Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) programme that has kick-started a series of reforms in the education sector.
The successes of the Godwin Obaseki educational transformation attracted references and commendations from international bodies and most recently “The Economist ” a British weekly newspaper. The newspaper describes the reform in the State educational sector as a maiden development in Africa and one that is worthy of emulation as these reforms will help solve the myriad of challenges that can be linked to education, facing the continent.
According to the publication, “Mr Obaseki, the State Governor, says school staff had long felt ignored and unappreciated; he says that providing more training and equipment has brought fresh motivation. He insists that support for the project among unions was crucial to his re-election in 2020. It has, he says, been “one of my best investments” while adding that NewGlobe claims that during the first year of the reforms, children learned as much in a single term as they were previously learning in one year.”
