The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) will supply all textbooks needed by every Nigerian child in public basic schools before the end of second quarter (Q2), 2018.
Hamed Bobboyi, executive secretary of the Commission, said this in Abuja while speaking with journalists on the need to focus on Nigerian child and improve on quality of public basic schools across the country.
“By second quarter of next year, we would have supplied every textbook that is needed by every Nigerian child in public schools. There is need to focus on Nigerian child. It is the responsibility of the Federal Government to make sure that textbooks are supplied to the children in public schools. The distribution will not be done on pro-rata or instalmental basis,” the executive secretary said.
He said not only Mathematics and English language textbooks would be supplied but all other core subjects inclusive.
Speaking on quality in public basic schools, the UBEC executive secretary said quality must not be neglected, and emphasised the need to institute model public schools where states would ensure right teacher ratio to pupil ratio, adequate availability of instructional materials and usage of modern technologies like smart boards.
He lamented the high figure of out-of-school children, saying Nigeria ought to be in the class of Malaysia and Korea on basic education system, and stressed the need to build an entire different system whereby ideas of modern public schools with quality would be mainstreamed in the Nigerian basic school system.
“Realising this will be new phase for basic education for the future of Nigeria. We need to build an entire different system, the kind of institutions that can move the entire education system forward in Nigeria. The world is moving and nobody is waiting for us, and UBEC is worried that we are lagging behind,” the executive secretary said.
“Nigerians need to believe in our system, we have the capacity, the human resources and if we judiciously use the funds made available, we will move Nigeria to the cadre of Pakistan and Malaysia,” he said.
Bobboyi also identified the need to build the Nigerian Education Sector on strategic plan, noting that there was a need to develop plans to address key challenges facing basic education system in Nigeria.
“We need to be frank and address the key challenges, our hope is that all state universal basic education boards by the next one month will submit their strategic plan for further review by UBEC,” he said.
