Key Performance Indicators: Azeez Tasks School Leaders on Institutionalising Excellence

Funmi Ogundare

A partner and West Africa representative at Sigma Risk, Nigeria, Mrs. Adeola Azeez, yesterday called on school leaders to seek ways in institutionalising excellence in their school system through Key Performance Indicators ( KPI).

Azeez, who made this call at the 14th Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) with the theme: ‘Building a Sustainable Education Ecosystem in Africa’, held in Lagos, appealed to school leaders to create policies that will ensure the expression of the KPIs, adding that they need to take it a step further until the policies become a culture in their schools.

He said: “That way, even in your absence, the excellence habits of your institution get carried on. The anti-excellent person in your system becomes an alien. I understand that it is not a walk in the park, but it is doable. Your political will to get it done is the most important factor.”

Azeez, who is also a co-founder of the ‘Women in Management, Business and Public Service’, in her keynote address,  also advised them to influence the quality and direction of national and regional policies on education by putting those who run for public offices on their toes.

According to her, “We truly underestimate the impact of those who make our laws, draft or edit our constitution and create our policies. They are the ones who determine which subjects get taught or scrapped, the structure of our education system, indices for entry and exit in the sector, among others. What can you do about this? You can choose to run for office and make a difference. You can put those who are already in office on their toes and refer them to relevant resources and give critical feedback when required.”

The Ambassador for Education, Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Finland, Marjaana Sall, who shared her country’s successful education experience, pledged her country’s readiness to continue to promote learning and finding solutions globally to challenges relating to the future of education, including working with the public and private sectors through  co-creating and building a sustainable education for the future.

Sall said: “We are keen about sharing our best practices and we believe that through this, we can learn from each other through partnership and find common solutions to equip our youths with the skills needed for the future.”

Speaking to journalists, the convener of TOSSE and CEO of Edumark, Mrs. Yinka Ogunde, said the programme was its first major outing after COVID-19, expressing optimism that by next year, it would be able to organise the Ghana seminar and bring together different organisations that are developing great innovations and services for the education sector.

She appealed to educators to remain committed, saying since the sector has continued to witness  a change in the way things are done,  they must also have a change of mindset towards that.

Also, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, appealed to the private sector to continue to partner the government so that every child can go to school, “and we can build a country that we all can be proud of.”