Folasade Adefisayo: Lagos Comprehensive Schools Programme will Boost Skills, Economy

Visionary and purposeful best define Folasade Adefisayo, the Commissioner for Education in Lagos State. In this interview with Omolabake Fasogbon, she speaks extensively on growth strategies for education in the state, including the Lagos Comprehensive Schools Programme that was recently introduced to curb the challenge of school drop- out in the state, as well as efforts to enrich the initiative which also included an advanced training session held for teachers in Finland 

Despite the interruption in the education system occasioned by COVID-19, Lagos was soon able to rebound with a number of achievements to show for it. Can you share some of your strategies in the area of education with us?

Majority of our achievements seen by the public are result of a careful collaboration and partnerships. Lagos has an education transformation plan with 15 objectives. The 10th objective is to engage with the private sector in developing education. We must be able to work with corporate organisations, communities and even old students’ associations to deepen education. The tradition of collaboration and partnerships has made Lagos more agile than most Nigerian states in responding to challenges facing the education sector. It is also discernable in Lagos’ choice of partners, events and programmes.

As part of the feats that has put Lagos on the spotlight is the Comprehensive Schools Programme that was launched in February this year. Can you explain the drive for this?

The aim is to absorb every child in the state formal educational system, having observed that a number of students are dropping out of public secondary school. We noticed a heavy attrition among our senior secondary school students as many were not resuming in SS1 after JS3 – and even throughout senior secondary school, there was a steady reduction in enrolment. The statistics bear out this worrisome situation: of every 10 students enrolled in JS1, only 3 make it to SS3, with just one graduating with suitable result.  The Lagos State Comprehensive Schools Programme is a model that considers all children as capable of learning and recognises that children are not equally adept at academic stuff. The programme aims to provide fit for purpose education that suits the needs and requirements of every child in the state. This means that within a school, we provide for that child who wants to be either a doctor, teacher, lawyer or even plumber and photographer, as the case may be, all within the same school and at the highest possible quality. 

How are you harnessing collaboration to drive the goal of comprehensive schools programme?             

The programme kicked off with consultation and dialogue with partners in the organised private sector and non-governmental agencies.  As we progress, we continue to engage stakeholders for feedback and reviews. Our stakeholders’ engagement covers as many people as possible including community members and parents. Teachers were also included in the engagement exercise being that the programme is a new terrain and  teachers experience were limited to teaching students for WAEC and so on. But we made the teachers understand that every child has his or her own gift, hence, the programme which speaks to the gift of those who are vocationally inclined and are retained within the school environment so they can become successful in life. 

How were you able to develop a curriculum for this programme?

 We develop our curriculum in-house based on the realities out there and employers’ expections. For many years now, the private sector has always expressed dissatisfaction in the capacity of the graduates churned out by our institutions, saying that they are not fit for purpose. The curriculum for the programme is quite advanced and in tune to workplace realities, hence, we involved the private sector in drawing a vocational curriculum that fits with their requirements. At the end of the programme, the students will also be going for internship. This is designed to be part of the curriculum because we realise that our subjects are practical, as such, the students need to go out to the field to learn, practice, and get a feel of what it is like to work before they graduate. This is to say that employers are sure to get the right skills from our graduates for immediate employment.

How would you assess the general response to the programme since it took off in February? 

As you know, the programme kicked off in February, so we haven’t graduated any student. We have come to see that the tone and atmosphere of schools have changed since inception of the programme. For instance, so many students who hitherto found school boring and indifferent about getting education are now embracing the programme. Much more than before, they are showing commitment as we are now giving them that which suits, excites and speaks to their skills. The feedback now is that schools are now quieter as difficult students are now being engaged and learning to love what they do.

What are the anticipated impacts of the programme?

The programme is part of our free education policy that brings hope to a child. So I am not cut out to be a doctor, lawyer or I don’t want to go to university to learn these things but I am also someone who is clever when it comes to fashion design, why can’t I specialise in it? Rather than letting our students to leave school and go to learn a trade, we allow them to stay with us and teach them to meet the required standard out there.  By the programme, we expect that every student will learn a large number of skills that will stand them in good stead wherever they go. Students will also acquire skills that will enable them earn a legitimate source of living even as a student. Their entirety will be refined and polished   because they will be tutored on work etiquette, dressing, morals and many more. The programme will also help   teachers to become better than they would ordinarily be because the teaching methods are different, novel, engaging and interesting. Overall, the programme will support economic growth in Lagos because the state can now boast of qualified, well-educated capable and competent persons with broad range of skills that will ensure that the state keeps growing economy wise.

You mentioned earlier that the teaching method for the programme is novel for teachers.  What steps have you taken so far to align teachers with the new method?

We have been running quite a number of trainings for the teachers to fit for the purpose.  One of such is the training they had just concluded at Tampere University of Applied Sciences (TAMK) in Finland. We all know Finland is top-notch in terms of quality education and their vocational education is highly regarded. Finland is widely acclaimed for its student-centred approach to learning, education in the Scandinavian nation is built on a guiding principle where teachers are encouraged to develop their inner skills and collaborate with other professionals to improve the national curriculum which enables constant innovation.

 As a result of our relationship with Finland, we are able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with a city called- Tampere who invited our teachers for training. The aim is to pick up on teaching methodologies and strategies which could be incorporated into the State’s Comprehensive Schools Programme for the best possible results. For the two weeks the teachers spent, they got equipped with a variety of strategies and vocational classroom practicals which will be harnessed for effective teaching back home. 

In what way are you supporting the students to enhance their learning process?

We are putting all efforts in place to make learning environment enabling. We recently distributed tablet to students in the vocational tech programme. The comprehensive programme is divided into two sections namely: the academic section where we have the Science, Commercial and Art students as well as the v-tech or vocational section.  From research, we have come to realise that students love learning with technological devices and they generally do better with them. This is why we have provided the v-tech students with tab which has been preloaded with totality of the curriculum that included sub-skills and the normal technical skills. The teachers also have access to the tab which will make teaching and learning easier.