A Peep into Gov. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s Basic Education Development Interventions

By Abiola Ameenat Atere

The education sector in Kwara State has never had it this good; especially since the return of Nigeria to democratic governance on 29th May, 1999. Before Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq administration came on board three years ago, there was a big rot in the primary education sector. The State had become a serial defaulter in meeting critical counterpart funding obligations that could drive that education sector to success. 

The State thus became a pariah of sorts. Dilapidated classrooms, outdated teaching and learning aids, as well as poor morale of teachers in the primary education sector in our dear State. 

However, over the last three years, a new lease of life is being witnessed in Kwara, especially with the unprecedented milestones recorded in the improvement of basic education, teaching and learning in the State. 

Thus became achievable because Governor AbdulRazaq, as a man of honour, effected the State’s obligation to Universal Basic Education Commission by ensuring that outstanding ₦7b counterpart funding Kwara notoriously defaulted was paid by the AbdulRazaq administration, and Kwara became a pariah State no more!

Some of the achievements of Governor AbdulRazaq at the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB) over the last 3 years since his inauguration include the construction of 600 blocks of classrooms in the 16 Local Government Education Authority (LGEAs), aimed at improving facilities at basic schools across the State. 

The renovation of 30 classrooms to enhance provision of adequate and conducive learning environment. E-monitoring for the project officers, sixty-one 3 blocks of classrooms, sixty-four 2 blocks of classrooms totalling 241 and rehabilitation of 1,335 classrooms in all the 16 LGEAs. Other achievements include the construction of 78 VIP toilets, provision of 82 boreholes to schools, furniture for students, and provision of digital literacy centre in 40 locations across the State.

In the area of training and capacity building, Project Officers’ skills were further enhanced to boost productivity and service delivery. 238 Quality Assurance Officers were given requisite training to improve their productivity and performance in the school.

 Three hundred school teachers were trained on vocational skills to complement the capacity building already administered to them. Also, the Initiative Training on “Understanding the Pedagogy of Teaching and Learning” was enjoyed by 1,859 teachers.

Furthermore, the government organised a professional training for the improvement on monitoring and support for 121 Schools Support Officers (SSO). In addition, training was organised for 3,800 science and mathematics teachers on improving ASEI lesson plan for effective teaching and learning.

Similarly, 2,480 teachers were trained for effective classrooms management, while 331 head teachers were trained on the roles of effective leadership. Two thousand six hundred and twenty-five teachers were trained on how to teach "Jolly Phonics" effectively which helped teachers to teach reading and writing skills well. 

All of these were attained after the flag-off of the distribution of instructional materials for schools across the State, to ensure the efficiency of the training programmes.

Moreover, the State Government led by Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq recruited 2,701 personnel, paid promotion arrears of teachers and non-teaching staff across the 16 LGEAs and SUBEB Headquarters for the years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021. 

In the same vein, outstanding arrears of contractors owed by the previous administration (retention fees) were also paid after which project monitoring across the 16 Local Government Areas in the State has commenced.

The administration of Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq also commenced the Smart School Initiatives. So far, there is an ongoing (UBEC) intervention project approval of 31 schools under the SBMC-SIP and the high-level moves are being made towards the payment of the counterpart fund of each of the beneficiaries. 

Among the many achievements of the KWSUBEB under the leadership of Governor AbdulRazaq was the emergence of Team Kwara as the best during the Presidential Inter Basic School Debate Competition held in Lagos State in December 2020. To further improve pupils’ capacity, the State Government introduced weekly debate among public schools across the 16 Local Government Areas in the State.