Obiano Restates Commitment to ‘No Child Left Behind’ Policy

IKENNA ANIAGBAOSO

Governor Willie Obiano has restated his commitment to the wholesome education of every Anambra child including those with special needs, the visually impaired and the physically challenged.

Speaking through the Comissioner of Basic Education, Prof Kate Omenugha, yesterday, July 28, 2020, at ‘Meet the Media’, a forum for expository insight into the Obiano administration, the Governor reiterated that his administration’s policy on education emphasizes that no child will be left behind.

Responding to questions from members of the Governor’s media team, Prof Omenugha revealed that Gov Obiano has effected this policy by ensuring that every physically challenged school child in Anambra State enjoys free tuition. In her words, “One of the things the Gov Obiano did was to give free tuition to all the physically challenged children in our schools. Even those in public mission schools like DMGS, CKC and others enjoy the same benefit”.

On a broader scale, Omenugha noted that the Obiano administration formulated a strategic objective to meet “the learning needs of all students through the equitable distribution of resources, learning of life-long skills and ensuring that Anambra state is among the top three states with the lowest literacy rate in Nigeria”.

According to the Commissioner, Gov Obiano’s passion for skill acquisition and the vision to equip every school child with a skill as part of a scheme to prepare the children to compete effectively in the society, informed the formation of the ‘one student one skill’ policy. 

Prof Omenugha also mentioned that this policy was the driving force behind the revamping of technical schools in the state. She said that most of the courses in technical schools had been accredited by the National Board for Technical Education under the Obiano administration. 
Gov Obiano has also ensured that ICT is instilled in all school children, she said. 

“The past administration laid the foundation for ICT but a lot more needed to done. Gov Obiano took ICT a step further by ensuring that teachers are ICT compliant. It is worthy of note that 40% of our teachers became ICT compliant in 2014/15 academic year. More have joined them. At a time ICT compliance became a prerequisite for promotion of teachers, she further explained. 
The Obiano administration has provided more laptops for teachers in the state. It is the vision of the administration to provide laptops android tablets to schools to ensure that children practice what they are taught effectively. The aim is to equip the school children with requisite knowledge to compete effectively in the global digital community. 

The result of these policies manifested in the laurels won by our students at the world technovation challenge in Silicon Valley, USA, the Global school debate in Indonesia and a cultural competition in Singapore, among others. 

“Above all, we have made our school children to believe more in themselves”, she said. “In Anambra state we have about 1,056 primary schools, 262 secondary schools and over 200,000 school children in both public and private schools. The mandate of the ministry is huge but the Obiano administration has succeeded in distributing resources equitably to all schools including the public, private, mission, technical and special schools”. 
“What is more, the government has enabled the schools and school children to have global competitiveness. Through the ten shared values which has become a mantra, the children have been taught to believe in their capacity and capability to impact positively on everyone they meet and everywhere they go, to be solution providers and not part of the problem, to be role models worthy of emulation, to be the best in all they do, to make their families, themselves, their state, their nation and their God proud in all situations”, she concluded.