The Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has distributed tablets and smartphones to about 2,000 teachers in the state for seamless lesson delivery.
The Executive Chairman of the board, Mrs Ozavize Salami, disclosed this on Monday in Benin while briefing jouenalists on the progress of the education reform in the state.
The education reform programme in the state is tagged: “Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) 2.0.”
Salami said that the teachers and principals were provided with the digital gadgets for modern teaching and school management techniques to complement the ongoing 10-day intensive training.
“At the beginning of this reform, EdoBEST stood for Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation; but now, BEST is no longer an acronym. It is a complete word.
“Government is taking the reform across the education sector, so that Edo State can be the BEST in all aspects of education.
“For us at the basic education level, primary and junior secondary schools are now under the control of SUBEB and we are implementing EdoBEST 2.0 reform across them,” said the SUBEB boss.
Salami noted that three major steps had been taken to reposition basic education service delivery in Edo under EdoBEST 2.0.
These steps, she said, include the disarticulation of junior secondary schools from the senior schools, and introduction of EdoBEST in hard-to-reach schools, otherwise known as progressive schools.
The SUBEB Boss said that the step also included plans for basic education infrastructure renewal.
“In October 2021, junior secondary schools were disarticulated from the senior secondary schools and handed over to Edo SUBEB for management.
“Afterwards, several steps were taken in preparation for full implementation of EdoBEST 2.0,” she said.
Salami, who was supported by other members of the board, said a baseline assessment test was conducted to know the state of the pupils in the system, and mapping and verification of schools.
Consequently, she said new teachers recruited through the EdoSTAR programme were earmarked to beef up the number of teachers in junior secondary schools.
“Already, teacher-tablets have been issued to all participating teachers while principals have been issued smartphones for better teacher coordination and school administration.
“In January 2022, we trained almost 700 teachers to take the EdoBEST reform to rural and riverine areas.
“These are very remote schools, with very few pupils, but Gov. Godwin Obaseki insisted that they must also be reached with EdoBEST technology so that there is no disparity between parts of Edo state,” she said
Salami stressed that a new era had come for better and improved learning outcomes for students across the state.