Lagos to upgrade polytechnics, colleges of education to universities

Lagos State Government Friday said the two state colleges of education, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin and Sir Micheal Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe, will be upgraded to universities of education just as the Lagos State Polytechnic would be upgraded to a university of science and technology.

The Special Adviser to Lagos State Governor on Education, Mr Tokunbo Wahab, revealed this at the yearly ministerial briefing to commemorate the second anniversary of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

According to him, the process for the upgrade had been approved by the state governor and the state executive council and a formal announcement would be made soon by the governor.

He said the decision was based on the discrimination between the certificates issued by colleges of education and polytechnic which also affected the enrollment level.

Wahab further said that about N436m has been paid as scholarship and bursary to indigent and outstanding students and pupils.

“Lagos State Scholarship Board paid about N219m as bursary award to 6411 students of Lagos State origin in various higher institutions of learning to support their education while about N218m was paid as a scholarship award to 981 beneficiaries.”

The special adviser said through the Digital Skills Initiative of the state government about 120,000 students and pupils in public primary and secondary across the 720 schools and across the six educational districts. He said they were trained in the area of basic computer skills, coding skills, scratch, cloud services and world wide web internet technology, interactive and visualiser code.

Wahab added that 28,000 final year and penultimate classes students were trained across all the state-owned tertiary institutions and they were trained in four major areas to increase their employability skills of entrepreneurship, work readiness tools, soft skills and market aligned courses.

Similarly, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo said the state government conducted the monitoring and e-registration exercise of 45447 students in all public senior secondary schools.

“Mr Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu paid N680m to West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) for the registration of the captured students for West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) 2020. This gesture by the administration of Governor Babajide is poised towards reducing the burdens of parents and expanding access to free and quality education,” Adefisayo said.