•••reiterates commitment to reduce numbers of out of school Children
In its bid to reduce the number of out of school Children in Oyo state, the Oyo Better Education Service Delivery For All Additional Finance Transforming Education Systems at States (BESDA AF-TESS) has distributed Ninety -Six laptops to the Education Management Information System (EMIS) Offices across the 33 local government areas of the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof Salihu Adelabu, while presenting the laptops to the beneficiaries at the Ministry’s Conference room, Secretariat, Ibadan, said that the Oyo BESDA AF-TESS is working assiduously to reduce the percentage of out of school Children in the state.
He explained that in Oyo state during the Omituntun 1.0, fifteen percent(15%) of the out of school Children were brought back to the classroom, adding that in the roadmap for sustainable development, the state government is planning to move at least 5% back to the school.
He explained that the 96 laptops were procured by the Oyo BESDA AF-TESS and given to project offices to elicit data and information across the state to make concerned officers performed maximally.
He stressed further that the ongoing Better Education Service Delivery for All additional financing (BESDA AF-TESS) project is a form of Educational Grant from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) in collaboration with the World Bank involving three States in the Country (Oyo,Adamawa and Kastina).
He hinted that the state governor,’Seyi Makinde is committed to providing quality education to its citizenry as a means of raising quality and enduring human capital resources.
He enjoined all the beneficiaries MDAs to ensure that the laptops are strictly used for the purposes which they were given.
He said, “Today’s programme was centered on how we will bring the out of school Children back to school.
The World Bank is interested in it and there is a programme tagged Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), those in charge of this programme are working assiduously on how to reduce the percentage of out of school Children.
In Oyo state, during the Omituntun 1.0, fifteen percent (15%) of the out of school Children were brought back to the classrooms. In the roadmap for sustainable development, the Oyo state government is planning to move at least five percent (5%) back to the school, that is the. minimum benchmarks. In the Ministry of Education, we have taken it upon ourselves to work on ten percent (10%) of out of school Children.
This BESDA AF-TESS is in OAK states, Oyo, Adamawa and Kastina.
He said, “Today, many laptops were given to elicit data and information across the Oyo state. As a ministry, we invited all the stakeholders, such as SUBEB to work on Basic Education, TESCOM to work on Secondary Education, Local Inspector Education Officers (LIEs) that are field managers that are to draw education map and probably categories them into red zone and green zone based on the socio-economic background of our people in the state.
“This will make us know our targets in the state and to know the
challenges that make them not to be in the schools.
“The state government is willing to provide all the necessary support that will make them go back to the school.
Earlier in his remarks, the State Project Coordinator, Dr. Bamidele Odekunle, said that the BESDA AF-TESS programme is meant to reduce maximally the out of school children.
He stated further that the Oyo state, being a beneficiary state, needs to get data to know the number of students who are out of schools in the state.
He said that the laptops donated to Stakeholders will help them work effectively.
He explained that the beneficiaries included :the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology Headquarters, Oyo State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) and their Twelve local Education Information Management System. Headquarters,33 Local Education Information Management System Offices, TESCOM Headquarters, and Ten Zonal Education Management Information System (EMIS) Offices and host of others.
According to him, We have only three States benefitting from this Programme and this Programme is meant to reduce maximally the out of school Children back to the schools.
“We also need to equip the teachers that will handle the children when they get back to the school. So these are expected deliverables of BESDA AF-TESS projects.
Oyo’s state being a beneficiary, needs data gathering to know the number of students who are out of schools, in view of this, there is a need for Instrument such as the laptops that will help them to work effectively.”