Lagos State bans social functions on school premises

Earmarks 324, 000 e-tablets for students
Lagos State Government has banned the use of public school grounds for social functions including parties, just as owners of private schools across the state have been warned to comply with rules and regulations guiding their operations.

According to the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Idiat Oluranti Adebule, “The governor has directed that schools will no longer be used for social activities. We want to implore members of the public to report any school that violates this directive and we would ensure that defaulting schools are sanctioned accordingly.”

Adebule, who also oversees the Ministry of Education, while unveiling the 2016 strategic plan for the sector, said that the state government was putting a searchlight on the standard of education in private schools, stressing that it would no longer be business as usual for schools that undermine best practices.

She said as a first step, the government would engage with private school owners and proprietors to intimate them on the action plan of the present administration towards improving the standard of education, saying that though government was willing to partner with them, they must also be willing to adhere strictly to acceptable standards.

With the state government’s allocation of 17 per cent of its total budget to education, she assured that the sector would witness a 360-degree change in the coming years.

Starting from the introduction of world-class prototype school building to distribution of Ibile tablets to all secondary school students; construction of the biggest digital library in the country; a-meal-a-day programme and the Lagos State Students Identification Number for both public and private schools.

“We are determined to overhaul the education sector in the state, through series of projects lined up for the year. We are optimistic that teaching and learning would be enhanced a great deal. For the new model schools we will take-off with 10 schools, and it would be according to our needs assessment chart. We would not concentrate on urban areas alone.”

Earlier, Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Obafela Bank-Olemoh, said the government was already at the planning stage of the digital library, while the actual establishment of the project would commence in the next quarter of the year.

On the Ibile Tablets, Bank Olemoh said 324,000 tablets would be given to senior secondary school students, adding that plans have been concluded to register all students in both public and private schools in the state under the Lagos State Student Personal Administration Number (LASPIN) project to aid proper planning.

The 10 new model schools he said will be with state-of-the-art facilities, while two new technical colleges will be built in the course of the year in areas where such facilities are urgently needed.