By Our Reporter
The Federal Government on Monday stated that it would embark on census taking of all schools in the country, to enhance decision-making and policy formulation in the sector.
The government said that data from the census would assist in overcoming challenges facing the sector.
The Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, made the disclosure in Abuja on Monday during a capacity-building workshop put in place for desk officers in the ministry, its departments, and agencies.
Maaman said: “It is our plan that by the end of this year or early next year, we will be signing a partnership contract with a firm that will be working with our IT people to generate data on all schools in Nigeria.
“This is because we need to know our teachers and every single student; we need data to know the trend of learning and our school infrastructure.
“This exercise will enhance decision-making and policy formulation as the data collected and collated will aid evidence-based planning, measure implementation and progress, and identify areas where improvement is required.”
The Minister said the training was aimed at enhancing the capacity to track, collate, harmonise and report progress in the implementation of the Ministerial Deliverables and the Education Sector Roadmap.
He added that the initiative will further ensure that government policies and programmes are effectively tracked and implemented.
Analysts argued that the census initiative may have been influenced by the controversy that trailed the actual number of abducted pupils in Kaduna recently, (now released), while agreeing that the move is the best in view of the prevailing insecurity around the school premises across the country, most especially in the North West part of the country.
The Minister said the training was aimed at enhancing the capacity to track, collate, harmonise and report progress in the implementation of the Ministerial Deliverables and the Education Sector Roadmap.
He called on heads of MDAs, desk officers, and other participants to align their activities, and projects towards the realisation of the deliverables, urging the participants to turn in timely, credible and reliable report of the activities, programmes and projects of their departments and organisations.
Analysts hailed the census initiative and argued that it is coming at a time when controversy trailed the actual number of abducted pupils in Kaduna recently, (now released), while agreeing that the move is the best in view of the prevailing insecurity around the school premises across the country, most especially in the North West.
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