Date: 2021-08-08

The Kwara State Governor, Mr. AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq, yesterday said that no sustainable development could be achieved without solid education.

AbdulRazaq made the remark when he spoke at the Kwara Education Futures Summit, which was held in Ilorin.

He said: "This is why my first preoccupation in office had been to check up on the state of our schools. It was a sorry tale. The basic education had simply collapsed.

"We got down to work immediately. Two years down the road, my team and I are proud to report that the situation has changed.

"We have restored our relationship with key partners after years of blacklist. We have reshaped public perception about teaching by engaging the best minds into the system. Work is ongoing in some 600 basic schools to give our children a befitting learning environment.

"Our goal is to make public schools the first choice for all in terms of the quality and relevance of our infrastructure and teaching staff in the digital age.

"As a show of our commitment to education, we have recently surpassed the UNESCO budgetary threshold of 26 per cent. Even so, it is clear that the government cannot do this alone.

"Huge gaps still exist. For instance, our recent school census across four local government areas show that 41 per cent of our teachers are absent at their duty post.

"No single teacher was seen in 54 of the 368 schools sampled, while 23 per cent of students on head teachers' record were not in school during the census.

"Only 15 per cent of the schools sampled were rated as needing no repair, implying that 85 per cent of our classrooms require various forms of rehabilitation.

"The picture is bleaker when you consider availability or adoption of technology in our schools. The gender parity index for ratio of girls to boys in our school is another source of worry.

"So, we need everyone on board. We do not have all the answers. And we certainly do not have enough resources that will provide the right environment for every Kwara child to thrive in the new world, irrespective of their social standing."

AbdulRazaq noted further that "this Kwara Education Futures Summit, we will analyse the current state of education in Kwara and develop actionable plan to build a new generation who can hold their own anywhere in the world.

"Already, we are building a legal framework to support our efforts. We now have a bill for a law to establish Kwara State Education Trust Fund.

"When passed, this fund will supplement the sector's finance, promote technologies, and leapfrog the sector's development through our Kwara Education Transformation Agenda (KWETA) plan."

The governor, therefore, said that, he was confident in the future of education in the state as the best brains and hands are working on it.