Children’s Day: For Bayelsa, education is a development strategy 

Children’s Day has been celebrated connected May 27, successful Nigeria since 1963. The time is acceptable speech to recognise the spot of children successful society, reexamine their challenges with a presumption of proffering solutions. 

Over the past fewer years, determination has been renewed accent connected children’s rights during the solemnisation of this each important day. The conception of Children’s Rights has nevertheless remained vague and misunderstood crossed society. This has meant that galore children are denied their rights. 

One of the astir misunderstood rights of children is the close to education. The Child’s Right Act (2003) is unequivocal successful stating that “Every kid has the close to free, compulsory and cosmopolitan basal acquisition and it shall beryllium the work of the Government successful Nigeria to supply specified education.” 

Twenty-one years aft the signing of the Child’s Right Act into law, a important fig of children inactive deficiency basal education. Many successful schoolhouse are not receiving prime acquisition susceptible of engendering lifelong learning. This is not exclusive to Nigeria. The United Nations states that by 2030, an estimated 300 cardinal children volition deficiency foundational literacy and numeracy skills. Even much worrying, 750 cardinal children betwixt the ages of 5-16 presently deficiency age-appropriate literacy skills globally.

UNICEF Nigeria notes that circa “10.5 cardinal of the country’s children aged 5-14 years are not successful school. Only 61 per cent of 6-11 year-olds regularly be superior schoolhouse and lone 35.6 per cent of children aged 36-59 months person aboriginal puerility education.”

Bayelsa has been frontal astatine addressing this challenge. In 2023, His Excellency, Senator Douye Diri, Executive Governor of Bayelsa State launched Bayelsa PRIME to amended entree to basal acquisition and engender prime basal acquisition work transportation successful authorities superior schools successful our beloved State. 

PRIME which is the acronym for Promoting Reform to Improve and Modernise Education encapsulates what the Bayelsa State Government is acceptable to achieve: To obliterate the out-of-school pupil improvement successful our State portion delivering prime acquisition to children, irrespective of their household backgrounds, presumption oregon locations.

In enactment with the aspiration of Governor Diri for the basal acquisition system, 2,182 teachers were retrained and equipped with the requisite exertion to present exceptional learning experiences to children successful the past 1 year. Teachers successful the 4 aviator section authorities areas were issued 2,507 teacher tablets, 226 smartphones and astir 300,000 teaching and learning materials including textbooks, different learning materials, posters and teacher tools.

To engender uniformity and democratise prime crossed agrarian and municipality schools, a caller pedagogy was introduced which improved schoolroom culture, schools’ absorption benignant and wide administration. 

Today, information and grounds are the drivers of determination making successful the system. Schools are each connected to a centralized database wherever captious cardinal show indicators similar teacher accomplishment and departure from schoolhouse time(s) are collected electronically, acquisition completion of each teachers for each classes are collected, pupil show information is besides pooled to let for changeless reappraisal and analyses for betterment purposes. Additionally teachers usage scripted lessons which assistance their acquisition delivery.

Since implementation of BayelsaPRIME, we person witnessed, firsthand, what betterment tin bash for a basal acquisition strategy that experienced challenges. Few weeks into the commencement of BayelsaPRIME, our classrooms lit up with excitement and gradually teacher beingness successful schoolhouse has improved to an mean of  84 per cent. Pupil beingness successful schoolhouse has besides snowballed and our pupils are exhibiting important improvements successful literacy and numeracy. Age agelong challenges including teacher truancy and absenteeism person been drastically reduced, the prime of teachers has improved and cognition to enactment has improved among astir of our teachers. 

Governor Diri has been wide successful stating his imaginativeness and absorption for Bayelsa State.  “For me, determination tin beryllium thing arsenic heartwarming arsenic seeing our youths successful the schoolroom seeking knowledge. I judge that they are each keying into the prosperity mantra,” His Excellency Stated earlier this twelvemonth successful Yenagoa.

“We tin physique each the roads and each the bridges but if the quality beings are not developed, who volition usage the infrastructure we build? That is wherefore our authorities is much of manpower development, hence we decided that it is not capable to person certificate acquisition only. What we request are skills,” helium added.

Education translation successful Bayelsa State has transcended basal education. His Excellency is promoting skills acquisition to unafraid the aboriginal of our teeming colonisation and warrant their employability present and successful the future. We are equipping our children done method colleges and making it easier for them to entree overmuch needed financing for higher acquisition some wrong and extracurricular the state.

As we look backmost connected the Children’s Day solemnisation our imaginativeness remains clear: We privation to usage acquisition and skills improvement to motorboat our children and younker into the aboriginal and research it arsenic a large strand successful our developmental strategy. 
Governor Diri is wide connected our work to the younger procreation and we volition not fto them down.
Dr. Emelah is the Commissioner for Education, Bayelsa State.