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Bianca Iboma-Emefu
Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo has sought for an intervention and support for education.
Prof Osinbajo stated this at the launch of the World Education Week – a six-day online global education showcase with over 85,000 registered online attendees in 146 countries.
In his speech at the conference, Osinbajo said that we cannot talk about delivering quality education in today’s world without rethinking about the models and leveraging on technology, “rethinking our education curricula to give students the relevant knowledge and skills to make them active contributors in today’s economy.’’
He advised stakeholders to lend more support and intervention towards the development of education.
“The quality of education is key since it is a predictor of a nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and admitted that poor education policies and practices lose economic output, create a permanent state of economic backwardness. Increasing education and skills can boost a lower income country’s GDP by 28 percent over the next 80 years.’’
Meanwhile, the Teach for Nigeria (TFN) says it is ready to collaborate and support the Federal Government initiative towards achieving the goals and announced the launch of “10 by 10 SDG 4 pledge” as an expression of intention to scale its work and ensure that it delivers on its vision to achieve education equity.
“This pledge means that over the next ten years TFN will work with select stakeholders to improve the learning outcomes of 10,000,000 children in schools across Nigeria. At TFN this will be done by attracting high potential candidates to partake in training programmes and thereafter place them in schools as teachers and school leaders.
Speaking on the new plan during her address, Folawe Omikunle, Chief Executive Officer of TFN said: “The challenge we face requires unity. All stakeholders need to support government efforts to ensure that we lift our nation out of poverty.
In the same vein, the Chairman Board of Directors of TFN, Mr. Gbenga Oyebode said the success of the society begins with the education of the young people and this needs to happen for all children in Nigeria, adding “this is why TFN is very much about strengthening the public education system in the county through developing a movement of leaders across the nation who are committed to putting an end to educational inequity,” said Oyebode.
The ground-breaking World Education Week event, featuring over 150 speakers and presentations to an audience of tens of thousands, is led by Vikas Pota, a globally-respected leader and driving force in the education, international development, philanthropy and technology sector.
In his remarks Pota said: “I am incredibly inspired by the schools that applied to take part in this year’s World Education Week. Their commitment to improving the life chances of their learners by nurturing expertise and wanting to share their experience with others, especially in these challenging times, says a lot about the global education community. They are our heroes and World Education Week provides us all an opportunity not just to learn from them, but to celebrate their successes, too.
“By sharing the ways in which these schools have developed their expertise, we can encourage others to feel inspired to undertake the same journey to excellence. That is a real and tangible way in which World Education Week can accelerate progress on achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals”.
