BAYELSA SUBEB 1. Bayelsa SUBEB is the flagship of educational service delivery for the past one year, how would you assess your performance so far? 2. The Restoration Government declared free education more than a year ago. How is your Board working in synergy with the Ministry of Education? 3. We are resolved that Bayelsa will leave the unenviable league of educationally disadvantaged states. In accomplishing this, there are obvious challenges of funding and infrastructure. What challenges does your Board face. 4. SUBEB nation wide used to face the problem of counterpart funding. How have you fared in this regar SPOTLIGHT ON THE BAYELSA STATE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION BOARD THE VISION OF SUBEB “SUBEB as an agency for the implementation of the UBE programme is resolute in harnessing available human and material resources to Universal Basic Education Programme in Bayelsa State”. MISSION STATEMENT “To partner with stakeholders to provide quality basic education that will enhance a sustainable level of literacy and numeracy that will enable the school age child to realise its potentials at the end of a 9 year continuous basic education. The State Universal Basic Education Board was inaugurated on 6th of August 2012. At the beginning when the appointees resume office nothing was on ground, official documents were typed outside, and photocopies were made outside too. And there was no light, printers and other gadgets were not functional. And also the compound was filled with grasses. Even PHCN light was not functional; within one week of resumption a 300KVA transformer was acquired. The work environment is now conducive. Books and other valuable properties of the Board where kept in a private warehouse in Okutukutu. The SUBEB warehouse is now been completed in Okolobiri, and all the properties are now been transferred back from the private warehouse to the SUBEB warehouse. WELFARE OF THE SUBEB STAFF Before the resumption of the new appointees staffs were not paid. And out of 240 staffs, only few of them where found coming to work. Few months later the imprest that has not been paid for a very long was paid. And also the staffs Bus that was not functioning was repaired and it’s functioning now. PROJECTS At inception Government declared a state of emergency in the educational sector of the State. Thus, the sum of N1.8 billion was paid as counterpart fund of SUBEB for 2011-2012. • Over 100 Headmasters quarters where built, 2 bedrooms flats for the Headmasters, 4 for teachers. • Over 200 primary schools were renovated, and all 2012 projects are completed. There is zero tolerance for abandonment of projects. • 23 Model Primary Schools where awarded, it was an average of 3 every LGA. • Those jobs were almost abandoned, project inspections tour to all the mega project sites. • Six of the mega projects where revoked, and where re-awarded to other contractors. • 12 classroom blocks, 1 multipurpose hall well furnished, and a big Computer Hall with internet facilities and also 23 toilets each was also provided in the schools. • A staff room with internet facilities that will encourage teachers to carry out research was made available in each of the schools. NAMES OF SCHOOLS • Otuoke model • Odi • Amasoma • Ndoro • Aleibiri • Ekeremor • Nembe/Basambiri near completion • Ogbolomabiri revoked two weeks ago • Oporoma revoked • Ogbia not completed • Opolo completed • Swali completed MEGA PROJECTS THAT ARE COMPLETED • Swali • Azikoro • Bolou-orua ETF 3 CLASSROOM BLOCKS THAT ARE COMPLETED • Bolou-Orua • Toru-Orua • Aleibiri • Agoubiri • Igbeta-Iwoama • Elebele SCHOOL FURNITURE: Flood destroyed everything CHALLENGES OF THE BAYELSA STATE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION BOARD. • Ignorance of parents the free Education Policy. • Headmasters/principals still collect money from parents. • Most parents do not have the courage to report to the Board. • Some of the furniture meant for the schools where stolen. For example 240 chair where given to Basic Junior Secondary School Agudama-Epie, some weeks later 33 chairs where stolen out of the 240. EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT Preamble: Just as a good foundation is necessary for a permanent structure, a successful education of the young child during its years of schooling depends to a great degree upon the child’s experiences during the pre-school years. Jean Jacque Rousseau (1762), opined that: “Nature wants children to be children before they are men. If we deliberately depart from this order, we shall get pre mature fruits which are neither ripe nor well flavoured and which soon decay childhood has ways of seeing, thinking and feeling peculiar to its self, nothing can be more foolish than seek to substitute our ways for them”. Similarly research findings have shown that beneficial early childhood programmes yield rich benefits not only in immediate ways for the child and its parents, but also over time in terms of the child ability to contribute to the community. Children consistent caring attentions are better nourished, less prone to sickness and learn better than children who do not receive such care. The department was established with effect from 31st August, 2004, to enhance the quality of Early Childhood Development in the State. This is done through clear specification of the minimum standards to met by agencies responsible for teachers training, retraining and local material development. THE PURPOSE OF PRE-PRIMARY EDUCATION: Effect a smart transition from the home to school. Prepare the child for the primary level of education. Provide adequate care and supervision for the children, while their parents are at work. Inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature, the environment, art, music and playing with toys. Develops a sense of cooperation and team spirit. Learn good habits, especially good health habits. Teach the rudiments of numbers, letters, colour, shapes forms etc through play. FUNCTIONS OF THE DEPARTMENT • Ensure proper establishment of ECD schools/centres. • Capacity building for caregivers and minders and primary one (1) teacher. • Link to all line Ministries, Parastatals and Partners to ensure holistic development of the child. • Ensure that every child has adequate access to good quality test books and other instructional materials to facilitate effective learning. • Gather data, monitor and evaluate to set standards for ECD centers in the state. • Prescribes standards for locally made instructional materials for the Local Government Areas in the State. • To ensure that ECD centers are linked to all our primary schools in the state. CONCLUSION One reaps a good harvest when one plants early and nurtures the crop when it is young. There should be strong commitment from policy to action. The time to invest in the education of the child is better commenced early in the child’s life. SCHOOL BASED MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE (SBMC) School Based Management Committee is a concept predicated on effective Government of Teaching and Learning system in our schools. It is to ensure that the various communities where schools are established partake in the proper functioning of the system. Communities instead of being passive toward the educational development of their children, have to be very active and only involve government in salient issues affecting the school. On the above premise, the State Government, under our action Governor, Hon. Seriake Henry Dickson quickly approved, through the Executive Secretary of the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board, Comrade Walton Liverpool, and the State Level Visioning and Domestication process which took place on the 5th October, 2012. All stakeholders in the Education Sector were in attendance including representatives of Traditional Rulers, Bayelsa State House of Assembly, Radio Bayelsa, Niger Delta Television and Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) at Golden Gate Hotel Multi-purpose Hall, Opolo-yenagoa. On completion of the first level visioning, the Executive Secretary Comrade Liverpool, again approved funds for the Community Level Visioning and Domestication process which took place from 18th to 20th December, 2012. Traditional Rulers, Women Groups, Youth Bodies, C.D.C. Chairman and Supervisory Councillors on Education from the eight (8) Local Government Areas of the State participated. Still on School Based Management Committees, the State Government through SUBEB has successfully organized the 2nd Level Training of Trainers for the establishment of School Based Management Committees as directed by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Abuja, nationwide. The 5-day training programme involved fifteen (15) Civil Society Organization duly registered in Bayelsa State, Desk Officers of School Based Management Committees in the entire Eight (8) Local Government Areas and their Heads of Departments SUBEB staff and the members of State Task Team on School Based Management Committee in Bayelsa State. Finally, the Executive Secretary has graciously approved the release of funds for the 3rd Level Visioning and Domestication of the National Guidelines which shall become the Bayelsa State Policy on School Based Management (SBM) after harmonizing the first level vision and the community level visioning and domestication process. The harmonized document at the 3rd level visioning, billed to commence from 13th – 15 February, 2013 would be passed to the State House of Assembly for legislation and legal backing, for it to become operational. Indeed the State Government and the Bayelsa State Universal Basic Education Board have done tremendously in ensuring that School Based Management Committee become functional in the State. DEPARTMENT FO SCHOOL SERVICE/QUALITY ASSURANCE The department of School Service/Quality Assurance is one of the major professional departments in the Board with a clear mandate to strategize and ensure quality basic education delivery. Through its activities, the Board is always made to be contact with the schools. Quality Assurance, a process of monitoring, inspecting, supervising, assessing and evaluating objectively, all aspects school life from input, process to outcome and communicating such to management and all stakeholders with a view of improving standards is a pre-requisite to quality basic education delivery. To achieve the expected and desired national goals and objectives in Basic Education and developmental aspirations of the state, regular assurance activity (supervision) is very imperative. Supervision of available and required infrastructural/instructional facilities for conducive teaching/learning environment, quality and competence of teachers to deliver the curriculum content to learners with quality outcomes at the foundational level of our educational system is very important. ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE There are three units through which the department carries out majority of its activities. These units headed by Deputy Directors. The units are: 1. Junior Secondary School/Curriculum Co-ordination unit. 2. Education policy planning/management services unit. 3. Primary/Teacher Education unit. There are twenty-six (26) professional and two (2) administrative staff in the Department. ACHIEVEMENTS/ACTIVITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT The Bayelsa State Government led by Hon. Henry Seriake Dickson in its inception declared State of Emergency on education. The Board in pursuance of this programme has carried out the following through the department of School Services/Quality Assurance. 1. STAFF DEVELOPMENT: Training/workshop on effective monitoring and evaluation was carried out in September 2012. Fifty-six (56) Quality Assurance officers and Directors participated in the training programme conducted by NIEPA. This was to improve officer’s capacity in monitoring and evaluation in line with new trends. Secondly, it was to abreast officers with the new National Quality Assurance Guidelines/Instrument. 2. TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL PROGRAMME: Training workshop was carried out for teachers on the following subject areas: Continuous Assessment, Guidance and Counselling, ICT, Phonics, Mathematics, English Language, Social Studies. The workshop was to build teachers professional capacity for optimal and effective performance. Secondly, to expose teachers to ICT and equip them on new trends of teaching the subjects through pedagogy. From the fore-going, in 2012, 2, 293 teachers in Primary and Basic Junior Secondary Schools and 347 education managers (Head Teachers, Principals, LGEA Education Chairman, School Supervisors) were trained, bringing the total number of participants trained to 2,640. To complement Federal Government’s effort, the education friendly Governor of Bayelsa State, Hon. Seriake Dickson trained the remaining 3,000 teachers in the state. The National Institute of Education Planning Administration (NIEPA) sponsored by Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) Abuja also organized MDGs-DRG training workshop for 307 head teachers. In the same vain, National Teachers Institute (NTI) Kaduna organized a training workshop for 761 teachers in the year under review, under the auspices of the Federal Government’s MDGs programmes. CHALLENGES: The Department could not carry out its major function of school supervision, monitoring and evaluation due to ecological challenge the state faced as it was submerged by the ravaging floods. The schools in the state were forced to go on vacation and just resumed.
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 23:31:51 +0000
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