Education Revolution: Enugu State Governor Unveils Smart School Initiative Progress
The Governor revealed that the idea of the smart schools is that every child in Enugu State at age 3 all the way to JSS3 (Duration of 12 years), irrespective of where they are, rural or urban area, must have access to quality, free, and mandatory education. When asked about the allocation of 33% of the budget to the building of smart schools, the Governor explained that the rapid shift in knowledge necessitates the state government to adapt.
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Following the Governor of Enugu State, Peter Mbah's one year in office, he disclosed the progress of the smart school initiative and the measures put in place to ensure that quality education remains a top priority.
He shared this during a media chat on Monday, further explaining the purpose of the smart school initiative. "The idea of the smart schools is that every child in Enugu State at age 3 all the way to JSS3 (Duration of 12 years), irrespective of where they are, rural or urban area, must have access to quality, free, and mandatory education, learn the right civic habits, understand the importance of cleanliness and other little things we take for granted," he stated.
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The Governor also disclosed plans to train and deploy teachers equipped with the necessary skills to educate the children. “We are more interested in the soft skills and how we can be able to produce smart teachers with the skillsets to teach these number of kids. We started dealing with this earlier on. We are building a centre for experiential learning where these teachers will pass through training. We’ve aggressively been training our teachers in the past six months,” he added.
The initiative also includes a self-incentive system that has proven to be effective in the pilot scheme. “We are having a situation where the kids don’t want to go home when school is over. They look forward to coming back to school the next day because of the things they come to school to do. It’s exciting and engaging for them. We are catching them at a young age and everything we do is painstakingly thought through. We are so obsessed about the Smart Schools,” he noted.
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Governor Mbah further revealed plans to absorb existing schools into the Smart School system. “We have about 260,000 pupils in our public schools and we are planning for 300,000. We believe that if we’re going to fight poverty, Education is the best way to go. 10-15 years from now, none of these children will be thinking about criminality because they have the skillsets to deal with the employment of tomorrow,” he stated.
When asked about the allocation of 33% of the budget to the building of smart schools, the Governor explained that the rapid shift in knowledge necessitates the state government to adapt. “The true wealth of a nation lies in the human resources. We have no apologies at all. If it was possible to spend everything we had, we’ll dedicate it all to education,” he concluded.
