AbdulRazaq: Kwara Has Surpassed UNESCO-recommended Education Budget Allocation

Hammed Shittu

Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq says Kwara has surpassed the budget allocation for education recommended by UNESCO.

He noted that society would no achieve sustainable development without a good education system.

Speaking at the Kwara Education Futures Summit held in Ilorin, the governor said, “This is why my first preoccupation in office had been to check up on the state of our schools. It was a sorry tale. The basic education had simply collapsed.”

He noted that his administration was committed to revamping Kwara’s education system and that there were results to show for that.

“We got down to work immediately. Two years down the road, my team and I are proud to report that the situation has changed. We have restored our relationship with key partners after years of a blacklist,” said AbdulRazaq. “We have reshaped public perception about teaching by engaging the best minds into the system. Work is ongoing in some 600 basic schools to give our children a befitting learning environment.”

The governor also noted that his administration’s goal “is to make public schools the first choice for all in terms of the quality and relevance of our infrastructure and teaching staff in the digital age.”

On funds allocated to the sector, he stated, “As a show of our commitment to education, we have recently surpassed the UNESCO budgetary threshold of 26 per cent. Even so, it is clear that the government cannot do this alone.”

He however acknowledged that “huge gaps still exist.”

AbdulRazaq explained: “For instance, our recent school census across four local government areas shows that 41 per cent of our teachers are absent at their duty post. No single teacher was seen in 54 of the 368 schools sampled, while 23 per cent of students on head teachers’ records were not in school during the census.”

He also pointed out that “only 15 per cent of the schools sampled were rated as needing no repair, implying that 85 per cent” of the classrooms required rehabilitation.

“The picture is bleaker when you consider availability or adoption of technology in our schools. The gender parity index for the ratio of girls to boys in our school is another source of worry,” stated the governor. “So, we need everyone on board. We do not have all the answers. And we certainly do not have enough resources that will provide the right environment for every Kwara child to thrive in the new world, irrespective of their social standing.”

AbdulRazaq noted further that the Kwara Education Futures Summit would analyse the current state of education in the state “and develop actionable plans to build a new generation who can hold their own anywhere in the world.”

According to him, Kwara is building a legal framework to support the plans.

“We now have a bill for a law to establish Kwara State Education Trust Fund,” the governor disclosed. “When passed, this fund will supplement the sector’s finance, promote technologies, and leapfrog the sector’s development through our Kwara Education Transformation Agenda (KWETA) plan.”