The World Bank has commended Governor Godwin Obaseki of Edo State, for his government’s reforms in the basic education sector, expressing satisfaction with the progress and impact of the reforms in the last six years.
A World Bank delegation led by the Bank’s Education Economist, Martín De Simone, said the State has continued to meet set goals, significantly progressing with its basic education sector reforms and upskilling the State’s teeming youth population through the Edo Basic Education Sector and Skills Transformation, EdoBESST, Programme.
The delegation which is on a 4-day working visit to the state is collaborating with stakeholders from the Edo State Ministry of Education, the Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, Edo SUBEB, and other government agencies implementing far-reaching reforms geared at repositioning Edo State in basic education and skills development.
According to Martín De Simone, “we are evaluating and reviewing the progress achieved so far in the implementation of the state-wide basic education and skills transformation reform which was launched in 2018 by Governor Obaseki.”
He said: “We have held extensive meetings with key stakeholders over the past four days and have identified key areas where progress has been made and areas that need to be further strengthened as we work toward achieving the goals of EdoBESST.
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“We are particularly pleased that the data before us shows that there is improvement in the basic education system since the implementation of reform in various areas, including the performance of the pupils in state-owned primary schools.”
After the team visited The Situation Room situated at Block B, State Secretariat at Sapele Road in Benin City, Martín commended the Governor Godwin Obaseki-led administration for creating the facility where activities of the program are monitored.
De Simeone said, “The Situation Room created to monitor teachers, students, and schools’ performance is unique because it helps in real time data gathering, compared to what the bank has seen in other states.”
“The Situation Room from where activities of teachers, schools and pupils are being monitored will help in improving the overall performance of each school as teachers are cautious because they know their activities are monitored and it will equally improve the performance of the pupils.”
Also, a Senior Education Specialist with the World Bank, Dr. Olatunde Adekola while commending the governor.
He said: “We encourage the governor to urge UBEC to come learn from Edo SUBEB as this is the way to go as it will help Nigeria’s education system as the education system has improved in Edo State.”
The Executive Chairman of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, Edo SUBEB, Ozavize Salami reeled the impact of the programme which was launched six years ago.
She said, “This is the sixth World Bank mission in the course of the EdoBESST programme.
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“The programme has been on for six years and the partnership with the World Bank is for four years now and we have seen the results of what we set out to achieve.
“We established The Situation Room in Edo SUBEB to gather real time data for the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme.
“Now we can track the performance of our teachers, head teachers and pupils directly from our office in Benin City. It provides us with a reliable means of gathering information to guide us in making better policies.
“It also helps us to set realistic goals and monitor our progress in real time. We have redefined school level quality control in Nigeria through The Situation Room. Right now, I can monitor the performance of our teachers, students and schools right from this office.
According to the Edo SUBEB Chairman, “Currently, EdoBEST is catering to the learning needs of over 380,000 pupils across the 18 local government areas of Edo State.
“The programme has improved teaching and learning quality by upskilling teachers and equipping them with well-researched materials for teaching. It has provided technology for efficient school and classroom level management.”
