The World Bank has praised Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki for the deployment of technological innovations to drive reforms in basic education and skills development in the state.
World Bank’s Senior Education and Technology Policy Specialist and Global Lead for Technology and Innovation in Education, Mr. Robert Hawkins, at a MasterCard sponsored programme, ED Tech, commended Governor Obaseki for bringing together stakeholders in the public and private sector to deliver major reforms in basic education and skills development in Edo State.
Speaking during the programme, with the theme, ‘Back to school — But is it back to learning?’ Hawkins noted that Obaseki “has really done a fantastic job and has been a leader on the African continent in thinking about where innovative talent is and how he can construct the partnerships that can bring innovation to education.”
He added that the process of comprehensive reform in the education sector begins with finding a leader who is willing to go outside the public sector to look for innovation.
According to him, effective leadership is necessary for constructive public-private partnerships that can take advantage of the knowledge that those in the private sector have and use it to meet the needs of the public sector.
In April 2018, the Obaseki-led administration implemented far-reaching reforms in the basic education sector, deploying technology-based modern methods of teacher training, lessons delivery, pupils’ evaluation and classroom management through the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme.
Through the programme, a total of 9,632 classrooms have been renovated, 204 classrooms have been constructed, 37,629 pupil desks and chairs have been distributed and 32 fences have been constructed, while schools have also been equipped with over 11 million instructional materials including textbooks, posters, homework books, flashcards and supplementary literacy remediation books.
The governor has now expanded the EdoBEST programme to capture secondary schools and tertiary institutions in the state.