Ekiti govt Commence Renovation in 203 Public Secondary Schools
Ekiti state government has commenced the massive renovation of classrooms and laboratories across the 203 secondary schools in the state.
Nnenna Orji 
The Ekiti state government has commenced the massive renovation of classrooms and laboratories across the 203 secondary schools in the state. The ongoing project in the three senatorial districts is under the $25 million World Bank-assisted Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) programme.
The Commissioner for Information, Taiwo Olatunbosun, who spoke during a media tour of the project sites across the three senatorial districts in the state at the weekend, said that the projects are part of the efforts of Governor Biodun Oyebanji to develop the education sector and provide a conducive teaching and learning environment in the state.
According to the commissioner, the ongoing AGILE projects are tailored to improve secondary education opportunities for adolescent girls aged between 10 and 20 in tandem with the Human Capital Development agenda of the administration and the vision of shared prosperity.
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Olatunbosun said that the projects are specifically aimed at using comprehensive approaches to address constraints they face in attending or completing secondary school.
According to him, “The focus is to provide interventions aimed at keeping girls in school while providing opportunities for them to acquire critical life skills, including digital skills, which empower them to enroll, stay, and complete schooling and navigate to adulthood. It also supports improving existing infrastructure in secondary schools to accommodate increases in girls’ enrollment and transition into secondary schools.”
He highlighted the projects to include renovation and upgrading of classroom blocks, laboratories, libraries, ICT rooms, perimeter fencing, procurement of school furniture, as well as the construction of toilets and sanitation facilities.
Olatunbosun said that the projects were already positively impacting the teaching and learning environment in the benefiting schools, as well as improving school enrollment and security.
He explained that in line with the Oyebanji administration’s policy of ensuring value for money, each of the benefiting schools has a 17-member School-based Management Committee (SBMC) made up of representatives of traditional rulers, religious leaders, parents, and other stakeholders in their respective communities, and the benefiting schools manage the execution of the projects to ensure transparency and accountability.
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The Commissioner listed categories of intervention to include renovation and upgrading of infrastructure, procurement of furniture, and construction of water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities with separate toilets for boys and girls and boreholes.
Other areas of intervention are the construction of perimeter fencing, the purchase of laboratory equipment, the purchase of equipment for the ICT laboratory, the provision of solar power systems, smartboards for teaching, and the distribution of 910 laptops to students.
Reiterating the commitment of the Oyebanji-led administration to the development of the education sector and the provision of conducive teaching and learning environments in the state, the commissioner noted that the government is executing similar projects under the Innovation, Development, and Effectiveness in the Acquisition of Skills (IDEAS) programme in the three government technical colleges at Igbara Odo, Ijero, and Otun Ekiti.
The State Project Coordinator of AGILE, Yewande Adesua, in her remarks explained that the programme operates on three major components: improving infrastructure in schools, working on life skills and digital literacy, and strengthening the project to facilitate the other components of the donor bank.
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In their separate interviews, the principals of Corpus Christi College, Ilawe Ekiti, Stephen Arogundade; Baptist High School, Igede-Ekiti, Mrs. Veronica Ilesanmi; and Ado Community Grammar School, Richard Ogungbamigbe, applauded the State Governor, Mr. Biodun Oyebanji, for his developmental policy that had been a huge boost to the education sector in the state.
They said that the projects have not only improved the teaching and learning environments in their schools but have also changed the narratives about public schools in the state, as well as the enrollment of students.
