Prof Rufa’i announced this in Abuja when she received a delegation from the UK-based-GEMS Education Solutions, a family-owned organisation that offers global basic educational needs.
She said N6.6 billion had also been earmarked for the development of technical and vocational education, which had been identified as critical to the technological advancement of the country.
The Minister said despite the frequent training of teachers, there was still a long way to go in getting quality teachers critical to driving the education sector.
She said the ministry would continue to partner with organisations such as GEMS to identify and develop various approaches to solving the country’s educational problems.
The minister who commended GEMS for offering solutions to educational problems, said government was ready to partner with the organisation in teacher training, leadership development as well as in data management.
She said: “I am sure you will agree with me that if the quality of teachers is improved, half of the problems in the education sector would have been solved.”
The minister said data management is important for the assessment of progress being made and areas that needed to be improved upon.
Earlier, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GEMS, Mr Chris Kirk, said the organisation had a network of about 100,000 students and 10,000 teachers around the world.
Kirk said his organisation was in the country to explore ways to support Nigeria in solving its educational problems.
He explained that the organisation was a support institution that “focuses basically on ways of supporting children with special educational needs, teacher and leadership development, data management, among others.’’
He said: “GEMS believe that a blessing can be a burden if children are not getting the education they need. GEMS also ensure sustainability of the support services it embarks upon because young people need adaptability.’’
Kirk said GEMS had more than 200 teacher-development programmes to give children the skills they need for creativity and learning.
Post a Comment