Spread the love
Kogi Government has solicited the co-operation non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and other stakeholders to support and invest in the state’s education sector.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Mrs Rosemary Osikoya made the call during the visit of the State’s Monitoring Inspector (MI)/Desk Officer, Students’ Exchange Programme, Mrs Mary Moraiyewa, to her office in Lokoja on Friday.
The inspector was accompanied by one of the beneficiaries of the students exchange programme, Miss Rachael Adebayo, who won several awards and prizes at Queen Amina College in Kaduna State.
The commissioner praised the student (Rachael) for her excellent performance both in academic and extra-curricular activities, and for making Kogi State proud as an ‘exchange student’ to Kaduna.
“When some states are doing better than others in academic and non-academic activities within the school, often times we do not ask why and how that was possible.
“The case of Adebayo Rachael who is an exchange student to Queen Amina College Kaduna, brought into fore some of the issues why we are struggling with education in Kogi State.
“There seems to be in Kogi a lot of dependents and expectations from government resources which have been the magic ingredients for solving every problem, but we discovered over time that those resources cover so many areas of competing demands.
“The backlash of that is that you have reducing funding challenges and then, we wonder why progress is not made like in the case of Kaduna, from the documentation you will see that the books and tablet were donated by an NGO and US embassy respectively.
“These are non-state actors and development partners that are playing very crucial roles in one area or the other to better the education sector in the state.
“Dangote is building big school facilities in other states, but when you go across Kogi, you then ask those extractive industries who make their profits here, how much value addition have they given,’’ Osikoya said.
The commissioner, therefore urged the people to see education as that area where individuals and organisations would invest by partnering with the ministry to bring about the much needed support.
“We hope the forthcoming Education Summit on Jan. 22, will bring together these wide array of stakeholders, who will catch the vision, light up the flame and do something small to support students interest in some activities, facilities or subjects,’’ she said.
The Monitoring Inspector told NAN that the ‘Students’ Exchange Programme” was a joint venture agreed upon by the 19 Northern States, as it has been in existence for some decades.
“It is a programme run by 19 Northern States involving the exchange of 60 students per state, 10 per class, with five females and five male students from each of primary one to six.
“It is meant for students to interact with one another, all the students involved are also taken care of by the government of that state, inform of scholarships,” Moraiyewa said.
The award recipient, Rachael Adebayo, 14, SS2 student of Queen Amina College, Kaduna, told NAN that she was very happy for being one of the beneficiaries of ‘students exchange’ programme from Kogi to Kaduna, as she achieved a lot under the programme.
(NAN)
Spread the love
