By Lolo Nkiru Onuorah
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!The Executive Chairman of Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), Associate Professor Hyginus Banko Okibe, today received in audience the officials of Foreign and Commonwealth Development Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE) in his office.
The Officer and Researcher for the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria Dr. Ifeoma Chukwuma thanked the Executive Chairman and the Management Team, for the warm reception, stating that their mission in ENSUBEB is to verify the ways to make proposed reforms in the basic education financing to stand the test of time.
On his part, the Research Assistant, Mr. Tobe Neli, rolled out questions to elicit the desired means to achieve effective proposed reforms in basic education.
Responding to the questions on ways to make proposed reforms sensitive to strengthening basic education in the state, Associate Professor Hyginus Banko Okibe x-rayed the foundational mandate that defines basic education as well as the role and responsibility assigned to the Board concerning the implementation of basic education.
According to him, the State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB) is charged with ensuring that all children of school age are enrolled in quality schools with trained professional teachers for the proper impartation of skills and knowledge through effective and enhanced teaching and learning.
Assoc. Prof Okibe stated that the Board is responsible for the management of basic education from nursery 1-3 Early Child Care Development Education, primary 1-6 lower basic, and junior secondary 1-3 upper basic.
Other responsibilities, according to him, include recruitment of teachers and nonteaching staff, training and retraining of teachers, welfare and motivation, and discipline of both teachers and nonteachers in their payroll. The Board also controls the funds assigned to them from shared counterpart funding from the state and federal government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC).
In addition, the Board is also saddled with developing programs and projects that reflect the needs of the schools based on provisions made by UBEC/SUBEB, including new construction like the building of Smart Schools and remodeling of existing schools to the status of Smart Schools, where necessary.
Other matters relate to monitoring and evaluation of projects, teaching, and learning activities. On-the-spot checks during School resumption and supervision of all activities of the schools involving the School Support Officers in the local education authorities to oversee the local government area axis and using the Education Secretaries to reach out to all the Headteachers, teachers, and pupils in all the local government areas of the state.
The ENSUBEB Boss reiterated the State Government’s resolve to transform the education sector through the building of Smart Schools in all the 260 Political Wards in the State, with a model functional Smart School at Owo, which has placed Enugu State at a vantage position in the country.
He used the occasion to announce that the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and his team will soon come to view and take a look at Smart School programs and projects amongst other infrastructural development in the State, as a reference point for others.
Associate Professor Okibe reiterated His Excellency’s determination to take basic education to the highest level and this resolve led to his apportioning 33% of the 2024 State budget allocation to the education sector. By so doing, the State Government has strategically changed the narrative and groomed the sector to become sophisticated and fantastic with experiential learning.
Most importantly, the State Government has also cleared the arrears of the 2021 to 2023 Action Plan Matching Grants and went ahead to pay for 2024, making it one of the key drivers of the Federal Government’s initiative to promote partnership and collaboration with the states to guarantee quality basic education for our children.
On the challenges facing the current UBE Act and observed practices in the implementation that justify reforms, the Executive Chairman narrated that UBEC should seek each SUBEB’s needs before channeling resources to them. The needs assessment will empower each state to look inward and deal with the problems and challenges facing them.
In addition, the SUBEB Chairmen should have the power to allocate resources and projects without political interference. This will guarantee transparency and accountability in project and financial management.
He equally appraised the role of donor agencies like UNICEF, UNESCO, USAID, etc, for being great development partners in basic education, along with some philanthropists in some communities that realized that education for all is the responsibility of all.
On relationships with other stakeholders like the Ministry of Education and Local Government Area Council Authority, the Chairman explained that the law establishing each Ministry, Department, and Agency assigned them different roles and responsibilities.
The Ministry of Education is the parent Ministry of ENSUBEB that is in charge of both Senior Secondary, Private Schools, and Tertiary Institutions, together with the corresponding supervision roles. He said that ENSUBEB is working in synergy with the Ministry of Education to make basic education a befitting legacy in Enugu state and a worthwhile venture in the state.
Therefore, ENSUBEB, the Ministry of Education, and the Local Government Council are working in harmony to see that the implementation of the policy is seamless. In other words, ENSUBEB partners with both to a large extent, and part of the synergy manifest in the payment of teachers’ salaries, in which the local government prepares the vouchers for teachers’ salaries, while ENSUBEB serves as the cleaning point for payment of teachers’ salaries.
On the relationship with UBEC, he said that the relationship is cordial and smooth. This has been ensured and sustained by mutual respect and understanding. To a large extent, the equality of the states in the distribution of the FGN Matching Grant is the hub for Peacebuilding. As a result, UBEC dispenses uniform matching grant payments to all SUBEBs.
In addition, UBEC in collaboration with SUBEB helps to transform the teachers through regular training and mentoring, to add value to them and improve the competence of teachers and learners to be different from what is obtained before, and thereby meet up with the global requirements in the labor market and secure our tomorrow, which is already here.
