Education has become one of the major focuses of the Obaseki led administration as it has continued to workout modalities to improve the sector for the benefits of the children and youths who are the leaders of tommorow.
In April 2018, the Edo State government, through the Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe led Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), launched a statewide basic education reform programme tagged EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation). The
programme has deployed state-of-the-art technology to revolutionize learning process, through training, motivation of teachers and the introduction of a more goal-oriented pedagogy.
The quest to further improve and consolidate on the gains of EdoBEST programme in the state led governor Godwin Obaseki to introduce EdoBEST 2.0 to serve as a platform to further spread the gains to other strata of education in the state.
The implementation of EdoBEST reforms by Dr. Joan Osa-Oviawe has led to significant improvement in the numeracy and reading capabilities of pupils in Edo State. The success of EdoBEST programme has led Mr. Governor to give SUBEB chairman and her team the matching orders to ensure EdoBEST 2.0 succeeds in like manner.
EdoBEST 2.0 was launched on the 28th of June, 2021by Governor Godwin Obaseki during the celebration of the third anniversary of EdoBEST. EdoBEST 2.0 simply means that Edo is the best in all tiers of education, it is no longer an acronym.
It comprises Basic Education, Secondary Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and Tertiary Education. The five Pillars of EdoBEST 2.0 include; Governance, Innovative Teaching, Learning for Skills, School Environment and Values.
In a bid to properly utilize the EdoBEST 2.0, the Edo State Government in collaboration with SUBEB Organised a stakeholders meeting tagged “Together We Can Do More” which was held at the Festival Hall of government house in Benin City.
Governor Godwin Obaseki led the stakeholders’ engagement event which brought together key players in the basic education sector from the 18 local government areas of Edo State to Benin City.
Participants invited for the programme were all seated before 2pm official time for commencement of the programme. Stakeholders that attended the meeting included traditional and religious leaders, teachers, parents, public and private school owners, other groups that have contributed to the development of education in Edo State.
The arrival of the Wake and See governor of Edo State into the venue of the event was greeted with ovation and cheers from the crowd, as his presence kick started the event at about 2:20pm of Tuesday August the 24th, 2021.
Welcoming guests at the occasion, Chairman of SUBEB represented by Board Member SUBEB, Edo South, Hon. Elizabeth Ighodaro appreciated the governor and his team for doing a good job in transforming the education sector in Edo State. “We are lucky and privileged to have worked with Dr. Osa-Oviawe, the governor and his team in the transformation of the education Sector in Edo State.
“The governor has kept to his word of re-enacting basic education in the state and we will continue to support his administration for its foresight as the state has benefitted from the education policies using EdoBEST as the platform to transform the education system”.
Obaseki who was elated at the progress and successes recorded so far by the programme thanked the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) Edo State Chapter, parents, stakeholders and the pupils for the collaboration leading to the feat of transformation achieved in the education sector in the state.
“I am standing here today to address you because I had the privilege of recieving good and quality education while growing up in Edo State. I believe it is our duty to continue to emphasize and insist on good and qualitative education for our children who are the leaders of this state, nation and the Africa continent at large”.
The governor emphasized that the inheritance parents can give to their children is not only houses and landed properties but education; which is the best inheritance and legacy.
While pointing to the achievements of the administration in schools’ infrastructure development, the governor called on all parents to play a greater role in the maintenance of facilities that have been delivered to their communities by the government.
“When we launched EdoBEST in 2018, the whole idea was to transform the education system so that the quality will be significantly improved and this we have achieved in the last three years of the existence of the programme”.
The governor said with the programme, his administration has tried to change the culture of the classroom, simplify the curriculum to make learning easy and fun for pupils. He noted that it has been achieved with the introduction of technology
into the education system.
“From the existence of EdoBEST in three years our children now learn better. We have built more than 204 and renovated over 9,000 classrooms in primary schools across the State and the classrooms are now comfortable. Provision of more than 37, 600 piece of furniture so that the children don’t sit on the ground.
“Concerned about their hygiene, we sunk boreholes in so many schools, repaired those that were no longer functioning to ensure our children enjoy water in their schools. We have also ensured that each classroom have library with books and reading materials. We’ve provided 8.5 million reading materials in our primary schools and it has improved our education system”.
The governor informed parents of the need to shift the closing time of public primary schools across the state from 1:45 pm to 2:45 pm in a bid to increase teacher-pupil contact time and further improve on the gains of EdoBEST.
He also enjoined parents to feed their children properly before they go to school to ensure that they concentrate, are healthy and able to participate effectively in school activities.
Parents and children who attended the event were optimistic about the potential impact the additional time to be spent in school would have on pupils in the state.
