By Stanley Onyekwere
The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has revealed plans to attract sustainable collaborations for the development of the education sector in the Territory.
To this end, the FCTA organised a 2-day retreat, aimed at seeking sustainable options for funding of FCT public schools and vocational centres, in Abuja.
According to the FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola, the FCTA, through the Education Secretariat, remained committed to its vision of providing sustainable, functional and inclusive education to learners.
He explained that the retreat themed: “Building Consensus for a More Effective and Efficient Education Services Delivery in the FCT”, was apt, due to the renewed focus on implementation of the Education Sector Plan and conversations on improving funding for public schools through resourcing.
He said: “It has become glaring that governments alone can no longer fund education, thus the urgent need to include participation of non-state actors and the organized public sector, to strengthen the funding of public schools as well as vocational centres in the FCT”.
He therefore hailed the Secretariat for been consistent in the production of annual school survey, which is a veritable document for effective planning and administration of schools in the FCT.
Adesola also praised the Secretariat for partnering international development agencies for developing a medium and educational planning, which is a good guide for organized development in the sector.
He however, tasked the participants to deliberate on improving productivity of teachers in FCT schools, evolve credible partnerships that will complement funding of the sector, develope action plan for training and capacity development of our teachers to upscale them in consonance with evolving advancement in technology.
“Our efforts in the development of the plan will come to naught if the document is not applied with our developmental initiatives.
“I therefore implore this gathering to prioritize the application of the education sector plan in your budget preparation to enhance effective plan implementation”, he stressed.
Furthermore, the Permanent Secretary urged the participants to engage in meaningful and productive discussions that would strengthen their individual capacities and that of the Secretariat as an institution to improve education performance and services delivery.
Earlier in his remarks, Secretary, Education Secretariat, Malam Sani Dahir El-katuzu noted that the retreat, in addition to finding solutions to the challenges of funding, would also address issues of security and update participants’ knowledge on their functions in the Secretariat.
El-Katuzu commended the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello for resuscitating the G7 security operation and the provision of operational vehicles, saying it would provide them relief to concentrate on handling school management and operation.
On his part, Director, Department of Policy, Planning , Research and Statistics, Malam Sani Ladan explained that the kind of sustainable funding the FCTA was seeking was not cash, but collaborations.
He further explained that the collaboration could be in terms of infrastructure, training and retraining, as well as community development.
Ladan therefore commended some of their development partners such as UNICEF, UNESCO and KOICA, among others, and called on others to also partner with the FCTA to continue delivering excellent educational services to all learners.
