World Bank has indicated it will provide support to Lagos State in school infrastructure projects and other critical areas as well as encourage out-of-school children to return to the classroom with grants up to $620 million.
Jaime Saavedra Chanduvi, World Bank’s senior director for education global practice, who led other officials of the bank from Washington on a courtesy visit to Governor Akiwunmi Ambode at the weekend, disclosed the expected assistance.
Chanduvi said the proposed assistance was motivated by government’s efforts at implementing sustainable policies, which have brought improvement to the standard of education in the state. He noted, however, that Lagos, and Nigeria as a whole still have a lot to do to tackle the menace of out of school children, adding that the trend has been on the increase across the country.
According to Chanduvi, government at all levels need to pay particular attention to qualitative education in the interest of peace and security of the country in the future.
Describing the development of the technical and vocational education by Lagos State government as a right step in a right direction, the world Bank chief urged the state government to include more courses in its technical and vocational education so as to encourage more youths to register for programmes of their choices rather than roaming about the streets.
According to him, most countries of the world that have attained greatness in economic viability prioritised skills acquisition and vocational education.
Towards helping Lagos State government to encourage more enrolment of children in schools, he disclosed that the bank has set aside the sum of $620 as grant specifically meant to tackle the menace of out of school children and improve literacy.
He promised that the World Bank would help the Lagos state government and other states in the north to freely access the grants so as to bring those school age children back to schools and secure a better life for them in the future
“We know Lagos state government is doing well in its technical and vocational education, but a lot still need to be done because of your large population especially on the out of schools children roaming about and hawking during school hours.
“It is an area in which your government and of course Federal government must pay particular attention to in the overall inters t of peace and stability in your country. World Bank has set aside the sum of $620 as grants and we will ensure that Lagos State government and other northern state governments take the advantage of this initiative to tackle this menace,‘’ he stated.
He noted that the Lagos Eko Educational Projects and other World Bank-assisted programmes for the state were well implemented by the state government, disclosing that the bank has lined up a lot of other programmes to assist developing countries to develop their education sector.
Idiat Oluranti Adebule, the deputy governor of Lagos State, who received the delegation on behalf of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, commended the World Bank for its support and partnership in various educational reforms embarked upon by the state government, adding that those reforms were aimed at repositioning the education sector to meet the global best standard practices.
Adebule, who stated that the state government in recognition of the importance of the conducive learning environment, disclosed that the state executive council recently approved the sum of N10 billion for schools rehabilitation projects to developed infrastructure in government schools, which she noted has improved the standard of education in the state.
She reaffirmed government’s commitment to the development of technical and vocational education, disclosing that the state has approved two additional technical schools to be cited in Badagry and Ibeju-Lekki to increase the number from five to seven.
“We know there is a wide gap now and right from the inception of this administration, we have evaluated what we met on ground and embarked on a lot of re-engineering works so that we can bring the education sector in Lagos State at the same level with others.”
JOSHUA BASSEY
