Benin – Mallam Ali Sule, member, State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Edo, has attributed “near collapse’’ of basic education in the state to absence of supervision by previous administrations.
Sule, a former Special Adviser on Education to Gov. Adams Oshiomhole, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Benin.
He said that prior to Oshiomhole administration, basic education in the state was in a bad state, with deplorable school buildings and teachers, who abandoned their duties for other businesses.
“Before Oshiomhole came, there was virtually nothing to write home about basic education in the state; as a result, even commercial bike riders and artisans withdrew their children and wards from public schools.
“Many parents registered their children and wards in private schools, not minding the huge financial burden.
“The situation was so terrible and pathetic that Oshiomhole, on assumption of duty, felt that the sub-sector should be his first priority,’’ Ali said.
He disclosed that the state government had paid not less than N4 billion counterpart funds for the universal basic education in the last seven years, to revive the sector.
He said that the funds were paid because of Oshiomhole’s resolve to revive primary school system in the state, adding that the counterpart payment made the state to access about N9 billion from the Universal Basic Education fund.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
“When this administration came into office, it discovered that there was a lot of counterpart fund the previous administrations did not access.
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“And, because we believed that sound basic education background was essential, the governor initially took a N2.5 billion loan from a bank to access N5 billion from the universal basic education fund.
“Today the sector has been revived and is working well,’’ Ali said.
He said that a proper supervisory and monitoring mechanism had been adopted to keep staff of the board and teachers on their toes. (NAN)
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