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….. As coalition of private school owners vows to boycott resumption date
From Ighomuaye Lucky, Benin
The Edo State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) Chairman, Mrs. Ozavize Salami, has said public primary and junior secondary schools across Edo State will return to 5-day school week as school resumes for academic activities on Monday, 11 September 2023.
In a statement, the Edo SUBEB Chairman said all public primary and junior secondary schools will commence in-class learning beginning from the first day of resumption.
According to her: “In line with the academic calendar released by the State Ministry of Education for the 2023-2024 academic session, all public primary and junior secondary schools are to commence in-class learning beginning from the first day of school as students resume on Monday, 11, September 2023.
“As part of efforts by the State Government to cushion the effect of fuel subsidy removal on citizens, SUBEB had in June 2023 implemented a hybrid school programme that combined three days in-class learning, with two days remote learning. This was possible because of the State’s sustained investment in the EdoBEST@Home programme, which has proven valuable in disruptive times.
“The two days remote learning was further strengthened by the use of individual homework books, made available to all basic education students by the Executive Governor as part of the EdoBEST programme, and was supported by an elaborate monitoring and evaluation system manned by trained field officers.”
Salami further noted that the return to a five day in-classroom learning week in the new session would restore the required teacher-pupil contact time, regularise in-person support for pupils as they learn and ultimately lead to improved learning outcomes as modalities have been put in place to ensure a smooth transition back to full in-person learning.
“Last term, we operated the three-day learning week as directed by His Excellency, Governor Godwin Obaseki, as a relief measure for our teachers and education sector leaders. However, from this term, we will be reverting to the five-day school week. We also want parents and guardians to know that with the restoration of the 5-day school week, the closing time for both primary and junior secondary schools also reverts to 2.45 pm,” she said.
She continued, “in line with accelerating foundational literacy and numeracy, the EdoBEST programme would be implementing a new strategic and well-thought out intervention programme for all children identified as lagging behind in expected learning outcomes based on their performance in the last academic session. These identified pupils would be administered a baseline test to ascertain their competency levels for the appropriate intervention placement.
“Over the course of the new term, a total of over 400 new classrooms, over 9,360 pieces of student and teacher furniture, at least 174 toilets, 41 water projects and 14,850 meters of fencing would be delivered across 336 schools and directly impacting over 72,000 pupils.
“Parents and guardians are encouraged to allow their children and wards to resume in the first week of school as everything has been put in place to receive them and to ensure that learning starts on the first day of school. As usual all parents and pupils who resume early will be eligible for free eye tests and free reading glasses as has been the practice of the Board.”
However, a coalition of private school owners namely Association For Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Association of Private Schools Owners of Nigeria (APSON) and the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, (NAPPS), has threatened to boycott the September 11th school resumption date following what it tags Edo State Government unfair policies.
The coalition, through the NAPPS state chairman, Mr. Lemmy Oare Russel, made the threat during its enlarged meeting held in Benin City.
Russel said school owners in the state are currently being suffocated by multiple taxations from the federal and the statement governments and they can no longer cope except something is done about it.
He said that the coalition is willing to cooperate with the state government in improving the standard of education in the state and has made frantic efforts to get the government attention so that they could marshall ways in which the system could work but they have not been able to get the government’s attention.
