Commissioner Promises to correct anomalies in Kogi educational sector
By Mohammed Yabagi
The Kogi State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Rosemary Osinkoya, has promised to correct some of the lapses she noticed in the sector while inspecting some schools in Lokoja, Monday.
Mrs. Osinkoya, who wondered why almost seven years after the adoption and implementation of the new Primary School Curriculum in Kogi State, some teachers are yet to even have knowledge of it, let alone use it, said there was the need for the correction in that aspect.
She said her supervision of teachers’ resumption to schools in the state capital, Lokoja, has revealed a lot of irregularities in the school system in the state, and blamed the neglect on past institutional disregard for education.
She expressed serious concerns over the continuous existence of mushroom schools even in the state capital, saying that the ministry under her watch would do all that it can to ensure that children get standard education henceforth.
The commissioner, who used the occasion to hold crucial meetings with head teachers and staff of all the schools she visited, revealed that her interface with them have shown there are fundamental issues that need to be addressed if the sector is to get to the desired heights.
Mrs Osinkoya, who blamed the head teachers for lack of proper record keeping concerning important aspects of their leadership of the schools, stressed on the need for them to begin to do proper documentation of their students and pupils to make access to their records in future easy.
She told them she was a product of Nigerian Public School System, and so, knew what was obtainable and what currently is, saying it is a far cry from the ideal situation she and her peers enjoyed.
The commissioner debunked rumours in some quarters that the state was ready to carry out Competency Test for teachers in the mould of the exercise that was carried out in Kaduna State, saying that baseline issues needed to be addressed first.
Mrs. Osinkoya, who is new in the ministry having taken over from her immediate predecessor, noted the need for the ministry to get accurate data of all schools and the number of teachers in all public schools in the state before thinking of embarking on an exercise to check their competency.
While pledging her commitment towards ensuring that the education policy of the new direction agenda of the Governor are achieved, she called for the cooperation of all critical stakeholders towards ensuring that the sector is taken to an enviable height.
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