TheCable

President Bola Tinubu has established a national data repository to fast-track learning and skill development for all levels of education and teacher training in Nigeria.

In a statement issued on Thursday, Ajuri Ngelale, the presidential spokesperson, said Tinubu approved “system-wide policies to comprehensively overhaul the education sector to improve learning and skill development”.

He added that the goal is to “increase enrolment and ensure the academic security of the nation’s children”.

Ngelale said the policies are captured as “DOTS, an acronym representing Data Repository, Out-of-School Children Education, Teacher Training & Development, and Skill Development & Acquisition”.

On the education data repository, Ngelale said the president has approved the conduct of an extensive census of all schools in the country from primary to tertiary level, their conditions, live-in facilities, proximity to one another, and educational infrastructure.

He said the census will cover all teachers, their qualifications, and the training support received.

“This information will guide federal and state interventions for teachers’ training and development as well as overall support. It will also provide data on gender ratio (boys and girls), their specific learning needs, and who is in school or who has dropped out based on daily monitoring with year-by-year reporting,” the statement reads.

“There will be a dedicated portal/dashboard in the Federal Ministry of Education, offices of state governors, and local government chairpersons, which will host and disseminate this information for the federal government, states, and local governments to monitor in real-time.

“This new data-tracking architecture will enable the government to track the progress of students, thus having a clear data-driven mechanism for interventions, especially concerning out-of-school children, girls, and those with specific learning disabilities, among others.”

On the out-of-school children, Ngelale said the ministry of education is already implementing the government’s policy through the activities of four of its agencies.

“Already, there are about two million beneficiaries. The system-wide policy will further enhance the education and training of the nation’s out-of-school children,” he added.

The presidential spokesperson further said the federal government will support and train teachers in digital skills to facilitate the use of technology in classrooms.

“This is expected to bring technology and digitization to teachers and learners at all levels of education,” he said.

He noted that the president has also approved the national skills framework that is designed to provide the appropriate skills for each level of education.

This, he added, will result in the empowering of generations of Nigerians with the required aptitude for the evolving needs of the global economy of the 21st century.

“This framework is expected to address skill-gaps, quality of education, and unemployment concerns as students will acquire certain skill sets, in addition to general knowledge,” Ngelale said.

“It is expected that once fully implemented, these programmes will succeed in resetting learning and connecting the ‘DOTS’ for significant improvement of the overall education system in Nigeria, in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Tinubu.”