Tinubu orders census for teachers, students in policy overhaul of education sector
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has ordered that a census be conducted as part of the policy overhauling the sector.
The approved policies are captured as DOTS, an acronym representing: Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training & Development, and Skill Development & Acquisition.
This was contained in a statement issued on Thursday by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale.
On the issue of data repository, the statement explained that there is a paucity of coordinated, verifiable and authentic data on all aspects of the education sector in Nigeria, which is critical for planning.
Consequently, the President approved the conduct of an extensive census of all schools in Nigeria from primary to tertiary level, their conditions and live-in facilities, proximity to one another, educational infrastructure, etc.
He also approved that there should be a census for all teachers in Nigeria, their qualifications, training support received, etc, a census on all pupils and students in primary, secondary, and tertiary institutions, gender, exam grades, etc.
According to the statement, “This information will guide federal and state interventions for teachers’ training and development as well as overall support. It will also provide data on gender ratio (boys and girls), their specific learning needs, and who is in school or who has dropped out based on daily monitoring with year-by-year reporting.
“There will be a dedicated portal/dashboard in the Federal Ministry of Education, offices of state governors, and local government chairpersons, which will host and disseminate this information for the federal government, states, and local governments to monitor in real time.
“This new data tracking architecture will enable the government to track the progress of students, thus having a clear data-driven mechanism for interventions, especially concerning out-of-school children, girls, and those with specific learning disabilities, among others.”
On out-of-school children’s education and training, it said, “The Federal Ministry of Education is already implementing the government’s policy through the activities of four of its agencies. Already, there are about two million beneficiaries. The system-wide policy will further enhance the education and training of the nation’s out-of-school children.”
Under the teachers’ development and support programme, the Federal Ministry of Education will support and train teachers in digital skills to facilitate the use of technology in classrooms. This is expected to bring technology and digitisation to teachers and learners at all levels of education.
President Tinubu in his determined effort to enhance skill diversity in the education sector in order to effectively equip Nigerian students with the requisite skills, knowledge, and values to become functional and productive members of society, also approved the National Skills Framework for skill development and acquisition for all levels.
“The framework is designed to provide the appropriate skills for each level of education that will result in the empowering of generations of Nigerians with the required aptitude for the evolving needs of the global economy of the 21st century.
“This framework is expected to address skill-gaps, quality of education, and unemployment concerns as students will acquire certain skill sets, in addition to general knowledge.
“It is expected that once fully implemented, these programmes will succeed in resetting learning and connecting the ‘DOTS’ for significant improvement of the overall education system in Nigeria, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu,” the statement added.
