Bayelsa Education Reform: Big Steps in the Right Direction 

An innovative reform programme in Bayelsa could unravel learning poverty in Nigeria, writes Oluchi Chibuzor

“It’s time. It’s time. Keep quiet everybody,” Mrs. Agnes Tamaraudoubra, a petty trader in Otuoke town told her two sons in the afternoon of 2, October as she raised the volume of her radio.

“Where are your notebooks,” she asked, her voice becoming more emphatic to command compliance.

The boys scrambled in two directions. Few minutes later, everyone was seated and quiet as a female voice on the radio began to speak, after a brief interlude of music. “Welcome to the BayelsaPRIME@Home learning broadcast ….,” the warm voice said. By now, both children and Mrs. Tamaraudoubra were entirely drawn to the math lesson that was going to be aired by the state-owned radio station to mitigate possible learning losses occasioned by flood-related school closure.

In Bayelsa, schools are closed for a six-week period every year for safety reasons because many communities experience various degrees of flooding during the rainy season.

As part of the overall basic education reform strategy of the Senator Douye Diri led administration to improve learning outcomes in state-owned schools, BayelsaPRIME was launched a little over two years ago.  BayelsaPRIME@Home is an initiative of BayelsaPRIME to keep children learning during flood break.

“This is a modicum of what is being done to improve literacy and numeracy among our children,” Chief Victor Okubonanabo, Executive Secretary of Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board (Bayelsa SUBEB) said.

“Through BayelsaPRIME, we are implementing far-reaching changes in the way our schools, teachers and pupils are managed with the overall goal of building a system that delivers exceptional learning outcomes for our children,” he said.

“We first heard that the government introduced a reform through our children and their teachers. But we didn’t know the Prosperity Government of Senator Diri would go further to bring the lessons to our home,” Mrs. Tamaraudoubra said, when the lessons were over for the day.

New beginning

Governor Diri was clear that education would be used as a strategy for development and transformation when he took office. “We are leveraging technology to improve the education sector with the introduction of a technology-driven programme known as BayelsaPRIME (Bayelsa Promoting Reform to Improve and Modernise Education) as well as establishing technical and vocational schools across the state to equip students with the skills to be self-dependent,” he told an audience while delivering a keynote address at the 10th International Forum on African-Caribbean Leadership in New York earlier this year.

Technology and a new teaching methodology are the main drivers of the reform. It is being used to address age-long issues including teacher truancy, absenteeism and paucity of quality lesson notes. It is also being used to collect data which is relevant to real-time decision making.

At present over 2,507 specially designed teacher tablets, 222 smartphones and 222 power banks have been issued to teachers and head teachers to facilitate teaching, learning and schools management. A dedicated IT support team is on standby to address challenges the technology may have while a customer care team which can be reached through several mediums including telephone, WhatsApp and emails is also available to address other issues.

The tablets contain proprietary software which facilitate several processes. With the tablets teachers mark attendance and departure, mark attendance for the children and receive lesson guides which aid in lesson delivery.

With the tablets teachers clock in the exact time they arrive at school, thereby curbing lateness; with the tablets lessons are delivered so there are rearer occasions where a teacher is in school and does not teach, all activities taking place in the schools and classrooms can be monitored remotely using the teacher tablets and the smartphones which have been deployed to the school.

Additionally, the names of the children, phone numbers of their parents, exam and test results are all in the teacher tablet which in turn transmits data to a centralised database which can be accessed by the governor of the state, commissioner for education, Bayelsa SUBEB executive secretary and other education sector policymakers.

“The tablet has enabled me to learn new things too. I studied economics at the university, but teaching math was a struggle for me, but with the content in the tablet, I can more easily deliver my lessons in ways that I would not have done without this intervention,” Mr. Samuel Ibu, a teacher in Ogbia local government area said.

Other teachers have pointed to the time-saving impact of the tablets, and alluded to how it made them more organised and efficient in time management.

Apart from technology there is a whole new method to classroom and school management.

“This method is children centric, its uses the play and participatory method to ensure that children are not only learning, but they are also contributing in class,” Mrs. Ebiegha Tarikye Favour, the head teacher of Isaac Jasper Boro Memorial Primary School in Yenagoa said during a tour of schools where the programme has been implemented.

“One of the things we observed after implementing the reform is that children who were introverts and seemed to be in their “shells” started participating in lessons, as there was no more room for a child to be left out or behind in class activities.” Teachers have also been directly impacted.

Because of the need to keep teachers informed about developments in the science of learning which underpins BayelsaPRIME, quality assurance officers, school supervisors, and learning and development officers visit each school weekly. Their visits provide an opportunity for teachers to be directly monitored, and supported with coaching and mentorship to enable them better mirror all the tenets that make the reform programme what it is.

At present, over 2,800 teachers and head teachers are in the programme. They are supported, not just with coaching and mentorship but also telephony-based technology in form of specialised teacher tablets and smartphones which are the bedrock of the technology that is being used to manage schools and classrooms.

Through these devices, lesson guides are sent to each teacher, the performance of each teacher is monitored, the performance of the children is monitored, key details about teacher attendance, pupil attendance, challenges facing each school and other important issues that impact the performance of the schools are tracked.

All the data is fed into a centralised data management system, which is accessibility to policy makers at the Ministry of Education in Yenagoa and the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board.

Of impact and sustainability

“It’s interesting how BayelsaPRIME has changed the behavior of my teachers,” Mrs. Inisiseizibe Ezekiel, the headteacher of State School 1 Ologri said.

“In the past, my teachers would resume school when they like. But at the moment, I see them show up a few minutes after 7am, some even arrive at school as early as 6.30am because arriving after 7.45am would mean they are late and that means the authorities at the State Universal Basic Education Board will know and ask questions.

The renewed emphasis of doing the right thing in schools has led to improvement in key performance indicators which are used to evaluate the performance of teachers and their schools. Before the implementation of the programme, teacher attendance was as low as 15% in some cases. At the moment, it has risen to an average of over 70%. Same applies for head teachers who have exhibited remarkable improvement in attendance surpassing 80% in more recent months.

“In the past, we had teachers who would connive with their head teachers. An arrangement would be reached whereby the head teacher would cover-up for an erring teacher, but with this new technology introduced by the governor, its either you are in school or not, those who attempt to game the system are identified because there are several methods used for the monitoring,” Mrs. Evelyn Ekiegha Ekese, the head teacher of Community Primary School Agbere said.

A measurement and evaluation exercise carried out a few months after the implementation of BayelsaPRIME showed that there is measured improvement in the system.

After only 19 weeks of instruction, the percentage of non-readers dropped. A significantly higher number of pupils improved in their ability to comprehend and benefit more from what they read. Primary 6’s comprehension scores were 80% higher than expected, and Primary 2 were triple compared to non-BayelsaPRIME schools.

The programme improved the average numeracy scores of every primary grade. Every grade in the programme outperformed their peers in comparison schools. The programme dramatically increased the rate at which pupils learn math. Primary 3-5 pupils gained a year worth of math instruction in just 19 weeks.

Also, teachers improved the quality and quantity of their instruction. Teachers’ rate of lesson completion increased, as well as their time use, utilising sound teaching practices.

“We who cannot afford private schools are happy with the improvement we are witnessing in our children. My elder son who used to struggle with reading has started reading, he is sounding words and using that knowledge to read, a parent, Mrs. Ononuju Chukwunyerenwa said in Ogbia town.

For teachers, the programme has also come with some learnings, “the tablets given to us as part of the BayelsaPRIME programme has enabled me to learn new things too. I studied economics, but teaching math was a struggle for me, but with the content in the tablet I can more easily deliver my lessons in ways that I would not have done without this intervention,” Mr. Samuel Ibu, a teacher in Ogbia local government area said.

While BayelsaPRIME is operational in just four local government areas at the moment, there are plans by the state government to extend the reform to other local government areas: Nembe, Southern Ijaw, Brass and Ekeromor.

An expansion is planned for early 2025 will bring in approximately 3,000 teachers and head teachers as the state continues to democratize delivery of quality education.