Kwara govt announces new projects, daily school peptalks in fresh education reforms
The Kwara State Government has unveiled a new set of infrastructure projects, policy reforms and school-based initiatives aimed at strengthening the education sector and improving student outcomes across the state.
The announcement was made by the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Dr. Lawal Olohungbebe, during the 2025 third-quarter Inter-Ministerial Press Briefing hosted by the Ministry of Communications in Ilorin.
According to the Commissioner, the government has introduced daily peptalks in all schools, a structured programme requiring teachers to address a unified moral theme each day. The initiative, he said, is designed to build discipline, instil integrity and reinforce positive character traits among learners statewide.
Dr Olohungbebe explained that the administration has intensified infrastructure development across the three Senatorial Districts, completing and handing over a range of new facilities to benefiting communities.
He cited recently delivered projects including the Prototype School at Adewole, Ilorin, facilities at Olokuta Senior Secondary School, Anfeyinoja, and a new block of three classrooms with an office, toilets, furniture and a motorised borehole powered by a generator.
He added that Mount Carmel Junior Secondary School, Ilorin, has received three additional classrooms, toilet facilities and a borehole, while Ansarul-Islam Secondary School, Osi, benefitted from a newly constructed examination hall, toilet facilities and a borehole. Senior Secondary School, Gbagba, also had a new examination hall completed to support large-scale assessments.
The Commissioner said the government had approved and sponsored new policy reforms to align the sector with global best practices.
This included broad engagement with stakeholders and Education Management Information System (EMIS) officials ahead of the Annual School Census. He added that partnerships with several Non-Governmental Organisations were strengthening teacher capacity, especially in digital literacy.
He disclosed that the government had established a Tripartite Monitoring Committee comprising the Ministry of Education, the Teaching Service Commission and the State Universal Basic Education Board to jointly monitor activities of students and teachers in schools across the state.
Dr Olohungbebe said the administration’s investment in education is already yielding significant results. He noted that Kwara students who participated in the Genius Illumina Project Exhibition in Lagos made it to the finals and are expected to represent Nigeria in the United States. He also highlighted the state’s victory in the 2025 President’s Debate in Abeokuta, where the winning students and their tutors were rewarded with ₦7 million by the government.
He explained that the introduction of an online registration system for the Common Entrance (placement examination) has enhanced accountability and improved the quality of placement results. A substantial improvement was also recorded in the performance of students in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The Commissioner disclosed that the Agency for Mass Education (AME) recently facilitated training for 25 instructors under the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-Formal Education (NMEC). He added that the LOIB Empowerment Initiative also trained and supported three outstanding young women in vocational skills.
Speaking on the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), Dr Olohungbebe said the project—facilitated by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq—is designed to improve secondary school access for adolescent girls by reducing barriers and making schooling more appealing to girls, parents and communities.
He noted that AGILE recently organised a three-day workshop for 193 health workers, 32 security agency representatives, and 29 service providers on the development and validation of a framework to address School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV). More than 5,000 School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) members were also trained on developing School Improvement Plans, alongside the review of the domesticated National Gender Policy in Education.
Dr Olohungbebe further disclosed that a four-day step-down training was conducted for 140 additional digital literacy trainers, while new digital skills manuals were produced for students. The manuals, he said, were also transcribed into Braille to ensure inclusion for visually impaired learners. AGILE also carried out sensitisation on the ongoing Girls Scholarship Programme across the three Senatorial Districts.