FCTA, UNICEF partner on development of education

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) and UNICEF are partnering to ensure quality Education for the children, just as the FCTA also said that other sectors of the society are essential for national growth and development.

The Secretary, Education Secretariat, Senator Isa Maina, stated this on Tuesday at the opening of UNICEF training for heads and teachers on record keeping in the FCT.

According to Secretary, education is the bedrock of national advancement and the foundation on which all others national and individual development are built, adding that the development of the sector cannot therefore be left to chance.

Senator Maina noted that everything about education must be carefully and systematically planned from the strategic to the tactical and finally to the operational levels.
He noted also that each must work seamlessly with the other, stressing that gaps in any of the levels will be negatively reflected on the result sheets of the students at the end of the year.

He said: “The cornerstone of planning as we all know is reliable data. The lack of usable data has been the bane of proper planning in our quest for nation building. Even if resources are available and deployed, as long as the data on which implementation are hinged is unreliable, the end result will not meet required targets. It is therefore imperative that planning is done based on usable information”.

Senator Maina, however, observed that the Education Secretariat has long ago put planning on the front burner of its development agenda and made great efforts to ensure that all its endeavours in this direction are based on data that is up to date and meets international standards.

“The training programme is therefore a continuation of the excellent collaboration between the Secretariat and UNICEF. Record keeping at the school level is one of the most important functions in the school system that has the potentials of making or undermining the entire sector. Information gathered at the school level will determine the proper deployment of funds, materials and personnel.

The training programme will be conducted for 811 heads of schools and school data desk officers from across the 6 Area Councils specifically on proper record keeping and completion of the Annual School Census instrument.

“The importance of the annual school census cannot be overstated as it forms the basis of all our planning programmes and development agenda. The FCT I am aware is one of the few states in the country that has consistently updated its school census data. I am also aware that the collaboration and participation of UNICEF has made this possible.

“There is no doubt that the collection and collation of this data is capital intensive and requires a lot of pain staking efforts to properly analyse them. I therefore urge all of you trainees to make the best use of this training programme and carry out this assignment properly as our planning programmes are hinged on it. On our part we will continue to do our best to provide the needed funding,” Senator Maina added.

He pledged that the data that will originate from the exercise will be properly scrutinised and will form the foundation for future planning purposes, adding “this data will certainly not gather dust in some offices or cupboards”.