The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo has reiterated the determination of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration to continue to foster partnerships toward further improvement in the implementation of its Education Transformation Plan.
Mrs. Adefisayo stated this during a strategic meeting with a World Bank team at the Conference Room of the Ministry in Alausa, Ikeja, adding that there are several ongoing initiatives of the present administration on the construction, upgrade and renovation of more schools across the State.
She said: “The State Government has intensified its efforts to upscale the digital learning processes, retrain more teachers, and expand the scope of the vocational and technical colleges. This is in addition to introducing the comprehensive schools while improving the inclusive structure for the special needs pupils and strengthening collaboration with the private sector to facilitate internships”.
The Commissioner also spoke on school completion rates for adolescent girls in public schools, saying that the State Government is exploring several ways to improve on it, stressing the urgent need to seek financial support to encourage a fit-for-purpose education model through the comprehensive schools to prepare youths for employability.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Abayomi Abolaji stressed that the implementation of the action plan will be actualised through synergy with various agencies of government, charging the delegation to expand access for increased support for Lagos State.
Responding, the leader of the visiting World Bank team, Aisha Garba stated that the World Bank is supporting selected countries and states in Africa towards increasing opportunities through education for girls to reduce the rate of poverty, adding that the Bank has discovered that Lagos is one of the Nigerian States with the highest rates of completion of secondary schools for youths, hence the need to know about what the government is doing to achieve more success in the sector.
She commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration and the Commissioner for Education on the introduction of several initiatives toward the improvement of the education sector in Lagos State.
In her words: “I must appreciate the efforts of the State Governor and Commissioner for the introduction of various initiatives to develop and improve the education sector in Lagos State. However, it is essential for the administration to reach out to the World Bank directly through the Ministry of Finance in order to deepen the partnership considering the volume of work that needs to be done”.