From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), has tied the success and positive impact of Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme to proper and timely information from those saddle with such responsibilities within and outside the Commission.
It also stressed the importance of capacity building for public relations officers in UBEC/SUBEB and BESDA programme offices in line with the technology which drives the 21st century communication and information space.
A statement from UBEC indicated that the Deputy Executive Secretary (Services) of UBEC, Dr. Isiaka Kolawale Olayinka, took the position at a training on communication strategy for public relations officers in UBEC/SUBEB and BESDA programme office in Kano.
The statement which was signed by David Apeh, the head public relation/protocol, disclosed that the training programme drew public relation managers from the 17 focal states among others.
He explained that communication and information is key at every level of the programme, hence the need for inclusion of information managers to participate in the project implementation.
He noted that BESDA programme being driven by initiative require deliberate sensitization and mobilization of every critical stakeholder at each state of the programme implementation.
He was hopeful that training will provide effective response to identified Universal Basic Education (UBE) delivery and communication challenges and also provide fresh and innovative perspectives in engaging stakeholders’ state and non-actors, parents and other stakeholders.
He encouraged participants to make use of the knowledge gained so that more people could be reach with information and more value is obtained from the money spent on programme and project, especially in BESDA programme.
Meanwhile, the Deputy Executive Secretary (Technical) Dr. Bala Zakari, who declared the workshop open, said that BESDA programme seek to support designated Federal and State Agencies in line with specific objectives of increasing equitable access to education for out-of-school children, improving literacy in focus state, and strengthening accountability for result through system strengthening.
Dr. Zakari said BESDA intervention focuses on states with the largest population of out-of-school children in the country.