The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) is seeking collaborations to improve the education sector in Abuja.
The territory’s Permanent Secretary, Mr Olusade Adesola made this disclosure while declaring open a 2-day retreat organized to seek sustainable options for funding of FCT public schools and vocational centres, in Abuja Nigeria’s capital.
Adesola stated that the FCTA, through the Education Secretariat, remained committed to its vision of providing sustainable, functional and inclusive education to learners.
According to him, the retreat with the theme: “Building Consensus for a More Effective and Efficient Education Services Delivery in the FCT,“ was apt due to the renewed focus on the implementation of the Education Sector Plan and conversations on improving funding for public schools through resourcing.
“It has become glaring that governments alone can no longer fund education, thus the urgent need to include the participation of non-state actors and the organized public sector to strengthen the funding of public schools as well as vocational centres in the FCT.”
He hailed the Secretariat for being consistent in the production of the annual school survey, which is a veritable document for effective planning and administration of schools in the FCT.
Adesola also praised them for partnering with international development agencies for developing medium and educational planning, which is a good guide for organized development in the sector.
He, therefore, tasked the participants to deliberate on improving the productivity of teachers in FCT schools, evolve credible partnerships that will complement funding of the sector, and develop action plans for sustaining training and capacity development of our teachers to upscale them in consonance with evolving advancement in technology.
“Our efforts in the development of the plan will come to nought if the document is not applied to our developmental initiatives. I, therefore, implore this gathering to prioritize the application of the education sector plan in your budget preparation to enhance effective plan implementation.”
The Permanent Secretary warned and urged the participants to engage in meaningful and productive discussions that would strengthen their individual capacities and that of the Secretariat as an institution to improve education performance and service delivery.
In his remarks, the Secretary, Education Secretariat, Malam Sani Dahir El-katuzu stated that the retreat, in addition to finding solutions to the challenges of funding, would also address issues of security and update participants’ knowledge on their functions in the Secretariat.
In a chat with journalists on the sidelines of the retreat, El-Katuzu commended the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello for resuscitating the G7 security operation and the provision of operational vehicles, saying it would provide them relief to concentrate on handling school management and operation.
Also speaking, the Director, Department of Policy, Planning, Research and Statistics, Malam Sani Ladan, explained that the kind of sustainable funding the FCTA was seeking is not cash, but collaboration.
He further explained that the collaboration could be in terms of infrastructure, training and retraining, as well as community development.
Ladan, therefore, commended some of their development partners such as UNICEF, UNESCO and KOICA, among others, and called on others to also partner with the FCTA to continue delivering excellent educational services to all learners.
PIAK
