Obaseki deploys Quality Assurance personnel to public primary schools to oversee teaching

…Okays mentoring for teachers, daily review of teachers’ activities

The Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, has approved the deployment of Quality Assurance personnel to public primary schools across the state.

Special Adviser to the Governor on Basic Education and Acting Chairman, Edo SUBEB, Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe, disclosed this on Tuesday in Benin City, the state capital.

She explained that the decision is in line with the state government’s strategy to strengthen the inspectorate arm of the primary education sub-sector for better monitoring of the impact of the ongoing reform in the sector.

“The deployment follows the revamp of the Inspectorate Division. Qualified and outstanding teachers already in the public school system are being recruited and trained for this role and deployed on a ratio of one quality assurance staff to 10 schools,” the governor’s aide said.

On the specific roles of the Quality Assurance personnel, Dr. Osa Oviawe said, “They are to visit schools every day and send their reports to SUBEB on a daily basis using their digital devices. The Quality Assurance personnel will monitor teachers on their teaching as well as take inventory of teaching aid and equipment in the schools, including what works and what is broken.”

The Edo SUBEB Acting chairman, further said that “As part of Governor Obaseki’s Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (Edo-BEST) initiative, a new role has been created in the sector, called Learning and Development Officers. These people will be trained to become Edo-BEST trainers and mentors of teachers.”

According to her, “Once the Quality Assurance team visits a school and identify areas of improvement, the Learning and Development Officer will visit the school and provide ongoing training and support to teachers.

“A third group of staff is the Social Mobilisation Officers. They are to work with the community, the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) and the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to ensure that there is good synergy between the school and community.

“All these staff will be assigned 10 schools each that they will to visit on a daily basis and provide support. The Social Mobilisation Officers will be responsible for sensitisation on Child sexual abuse, enforcement of the Child Rights Law and related issues.”