2023 EKOEXCEL Media mentions by NewGlobe

2023

LASUBEB Introduces Let’s Mark App To EKOEXCEL To Improve Teacher’s Assessment Of Exams

LAGOS – To further build upon its impacts, improve its processes and ensure that head teachers and teachers maintain the highest possible standards in giving their best to pupils, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) has introduced the Let’s Mark App for the 2022/2023 term two end of term examinations for the EKOEXCEL programme

Let’s Mark is one of the many digital applications introduced in the EKOEXCEL programme

Commenting on the App’s benefits, LASUBEB Chairman, Wahab AlawiyeKing, explained that the introduction of the App has further positioned Lagos State public primary schools as a leader in transformative public education reform in Nigeria through the use of technology, thereby enabling widespread acceptance of EKOEXCEL among all stakeholders within the Lagos State political class, including the end-users of the programme

He said: “The app allows teachers to quickly and accurately mark multiple choice examinations using the school leader smartphone

The teacher uses the app to ‘scan’ the answer sheet The app, in turn, automatically marks all responses and identifies incorrect responses The teacher then marks the incorrect answers on the paper ” “The app also uploads all item-level data to remote servers Let’s Mark can also be used with thermal printers Thermal printers are small battery-powered printers that print the results of an exam for each individual student. The printout includes the student details, the answers to all questions the student answered incorrectly, and a QR code that links to either the exam PDF or to the mobile quizzing platform ”

she App was introduced as a pilot phase to 200 select Lagos State public primary schools prior to the end of term examinations, where the teachers underwent a week-long capacity building exercise on how to use the App, facilitated by LASUBEB’s BEQA Mentoring Field Officers

Furthermore, as part of the pilot phase, the Let’s Mark is only applicable to Supplementary Maths (Numeracy Levels C-E) examinations

Speaking on the use of the App, during the end of term two examinations, Francisca Okafo, Head Teacher of Federal Housing Estate Primary School, Victoria Island, Lagos, commended the introduction of the Let’s Mark App

She said: “The Let’s Mark App is a very commendable one, it will ease the stress of going through exam scripts to mark one after the other Though it took us some time to understand the conditions to accurately scan the exam scripts but as we got through, the process went smoothly.

“So I want to encourage that the Let’s Mark App is introduced to all Lagos State public primary schools in marking examinations ”

Also commenting on the introduction of the App was Bakare Yusuf, a Basic 4 teacher at Ansar-Ud-Deen Primary School, Victoria Island Lagos, who said: “With the introduction of technology, I believe it makes the teachers job very much easier, you scan and it automatically brings out the result and score for you

“There is no need to bring out your biro to mark severally and that takes all of your time

“Quality and equitable basic education is a major priority of Lagos State, under the THEMES agenda, evidenced by the investment in EKOEXCEL, a pivotal project designed to elevate the education trajectory of Lagos State by bringing equal opportunity to all children in the state, making education affordable for everyone.”

EKOEXCEL is a fulfillment of Governor Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to education in his THEMES agenda

Through EKOEXCEL, the Lagos State government has developed a globally recognised, award winning public education intervention, designed to equip and support public school teachers with technology driven tools and methodology, to aid increased learning gains in classrooms

by TaboolaSponsored LinksYou May Like

Apr 3, 2023

18-Mar-2023

Sanwo-Olu transforming education in Lagos through EKOEXCEL

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development –adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit – came into force One of the goals – the No 4 –is “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality of education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” This signposts the importance of education to the development of any society as it is evident in the gulf between developed and underdeveloped societies

When Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu campaigned for the exalted office in 2018, he unveiled a strategic development agenda that he promised to pursue when elected as the governor of the state. The agenda comprises six pillars which are Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st-century Economy; Entertainment and Tourism; and Security and Governance

It was not a coincidence that Education is one of the pillars of Sanwo-Olu’s administration having been in government for enough time to know how crucial the sector is to reflect the centre of excellence slogan of the state

As soon as he was elected in 2019, he began to walk the talk by prioritising Education and Technology in project execution A deliberate incremental budgetary allocation for education from eight per cent in 2020 to the current 12 per cent underscores the governor’s sincerity to reform the sector from the base, which is primary education

Setting the agenda for the wind of change is one of the projects that has become a point of reference, the Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) The innovative and transformational programme, which is managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), provides quality education in the public

system and upskills teachers by leveraging technology This underpins a study by Novel Prize winningeconomist, Prof. Michael Kremer which states that attending schools and delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains This suggests that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lessons plan and teachers’ feedback monitoring, in their own systems

So, setting the building blocks, the EKOEXCEL initiative began with a Pre-service Professional Development and Technology Training Programme for teachers and headteachers in the state’s primary schools. A pilot scheme of 4,000 teachers from 300 primary schools across the state saw the training incorporate the use of technology devices and other tools for modern teaching in order to support teachers in achieving better learning outcomes in the classroom

The programme, which commenced in 2020, has seen 18,000 teachers move from analogue to digital teaching using tablets and an updated curriculum, which has impacted over 450,000 pupils in public primary schools in the state. As the curriculum is being updated to meet the demand of the present day, so also is the complementary infrastructural upgrade through massive construction and renovation of existing educational infrastructure with the completion of more than 1,097 school projects, upgrade and rehabilitation of 322 dilapidated public schools and furnishing of primary schools with 87,000 dual composite units of chairs and desks

Testimonials abound on how impactful the EKOEXCEL initiative has being in the career of primary school teachers as Aletile Afolake, a teacher with the Ministry of Education District 6, lauded the digital training she had gone through at the expense of the state, Afolake, who had believed teaching is limited to standing before the pupils with a writing board to explain lessons, experienced teaching in its contemporary form In her words “I’m highly excited to be part of the training, and I want to appreciate the governor for taking such a bold initiative to better position education in Lagos We were exposed to computer programmes and systems of teaching and learning via technology that

18-Mar-2023

is basically structured to create animations games and cartoons,” she said

Despite the outbreak of Covid-19 impacting education in Lagos, the EKOEXCEL programme and the governor’s vision enabled children to continue learning unlike many of their peers across Nigeria As schools were closed during the pandemic, EKOEXCEL launched blended learning with the adaption of the EKOEXCEL@Home initiative to ensure that learning continued even in remote and poorly internet-connected communities The programme consisted of self-study activity packets, learning guides, interactive audio sessions, virtual classroom experiences and WhatsApp quizzes As an initiative that leverages technology, 450,000 mp3s with prerecorded lessons were distributed, making it the largest learning technology rollout on the continent for remote learning

It is noteworthy that the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the investment and affirmed the strategic intervention’s impact The evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making substantial progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative came into force

Obviously, when the 2021-2022 evaluation will be released, it will capture the impressive performances of the pupils from Lagos State in the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) In the 2022 academic year, 71,738 pupils were registered with 34,030 being male Lagos State registered the highest number of candidates with 19,518 out of which 18,787 sat for the examinations

While the overall best student in the NCEE scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just three, four and five points behind the best student as Ayomide

Daniel Ajayi of Hussey Military Yaba scored 198, Damilola Basit Araba of the same school had 197 and Deborah Ugbaha of St Georges Girls scored 196. Deborah, who came third among Lagos pupils who sat for the NCEE, finished first in the in-school examinations, including the end-ofterm one and two examinations Ayomide and Damilola were second and third respectively, signposting the efficacy of EKOEXCEL’s methodology in boosting gender parity and improving overall academic performance

However, the trio were not the only successful Lagos pupils Others also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency Of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades More deductions from the tracking revealed that 32 pupils from 22 schools surpassed the aspirational and proficiency targets by 11.6 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively, while the threshold targets for Partially and Below Proficiency were exceeded by 8 per cent and 9 3 per cent margins respectively

Sustaining this performance and more by the pupils, there is also the Instructional Leadership App, a software which allows school leaders to monitor and respond to issues,

including the percentage of lessons completed With this app, primary school administrators can assess teachers’ performance and benchmark that against that of other schools’ performance.

Lest I forget, the latest addition to the curriculum is the “Hour of Code”, a onehour introduction to computer science for Primary 1 to 6 pupils using fun tutorials This programme is designed to demystify coding at an early age and enhance learning outcomes in public primary schools in the state

It is not surprising to see stakeholders commend the impact of the EKOEXCEL initiative in transforming primary education in the state They were unanimous in their appraisal during the 2022 Lagos State Education Summit

Members of the Lagos State Chapter of the National Association of Education Secretaries of Nigeria (NAESN) and Association of Primary School Heads of Nigeria (AOPSHON) have even gone beyond appraisal to endorse the Governor for a second term as a result of the upward trajectory of basic education in the State

The premise for their endorsement is the over 3,000 teachers employed and equipped with tablets which have made teaching easy for the teachers while their welfare packages have improved just as new schools are built and old ones renovated

EKOEXCEL is a game changer as there remain endless opportunities on the horizon A renewed four-year mandate holds a lot for the Sanwo-Olu administration to engrain a competitive formative education in Lagos

How Sanwo-Olu Embraced Equity In Lagos Primary Schools

11-Mar-2023

As the world marks the 2023 International Women’s Day themed: ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, a researcher examines how Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has used the technology-driven EKOEXCEL initiative to promote gender equity in public schools

While other parts of the globe have made significant progress in bridging gender inequality in education, sub-Saharan Africa continues to struggle

A 2020 UNSECO gender report entitled: ‘Progress towards gender parity in education is undeniable’ noted that though, on average, global gender parity of education has been reached, SubSaharan Africa is yet to reach this level.

The report disclosed that there are still significant gender gaps in education in many Sub-Saharan African countries.

It further noted that as schooling progresses, these rates increase, pointing to a severe issue – current systems lack the support for girls to access and stay in education

The report noted: “Girls continue to be more likely than boys to have never enrolled in school Globally, of the 59 million primary school-age children who were not enrolled in 2018, 12 million, or 20%, have never attended school and will probably never start if current trends continue Girls made up three-quarters (9 million) of such children, and over 4 million of those girls were in sub-Saharan Africa

Between 1995 and 2018, the percentage of countries that had achieved gender parity rose from 56% to 65% in primary, 45% to 51% in lower secondary and 13% to 24% in upper secondary education. “Still, the considerable disparity at girls’ expense remains, mostly in low-income sub-Saharan African countries

In 2018, fewer than 90 girls were enrolled for every 100 boys in 7 countries in primary, 15 countries in lower secondary and 22 countries in upper secondary education.

“Another 2021 report by The Borgen Project, ‘Disparities in Education in Nigeria,’ disclosed that the country “has struggled with a weak education system for decades Of the total number of children not in school worldwide, 20% live in Nigeria Essentially, one in five children out of school resides in Nigeria Girls make up a large percentage of children not in school ”

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who assumed office in 2019, was also aware of this problem He made tackling it part of his larger plan for transforming education in the state

Being one of his administration’s critical focuses, he has worked hard in the last four years to transform the sector with policies, actions and funding.

The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, gave more insight into the Governor’s passion for education at the Brooking’s Institute Education Systems

Transformation Symposium themed: “Collaborative Work,

Local Contexts, and False

Dichotomies” she attended on February 17 in the United States. Adefisayo, who spoke on ‘Education Systems Transformation: The Lagos Story,’ mentioned how the Governor would love to do more for education.

“He calls me education and once asked me the percentage of the state’s budget I would love for education I told him 100 per cent, and he laughed He said I could have 13 per cent, far more than other states allocate to education ”

Aside from generously funding education, the Governor has also demonstrated faith in women’s abilities by entrusting them with key responsibilities in his transformation journey Apart from Adefisayo heading the Ministry of Education, women are also heads of two tertiary institutions in the state

Professor of Medicine, Ibiyemi OlatunjiBello, is the Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University, and Professor of Health Education Bidemi Bilkis Lafiaji-Okuneye heads the recently created Lagos State University of Education

But he has also paid attention to the foundation That is primary education in his quest to bridge gender inequality and improve access to education for the girl child The vehicle for doing this has been the impactful initiative

EKOEXCEL, launched in 2019 to enhance pupils’ learning outcomes across public primary schools. Operated with technical partners, NewGlobe, EKOEXCEL has strategically enthroned gender equity in public primary schools Notably, the entire program boosts gender equity All artwork and creative stories in textbooks and workbooks are commissioned to ensure equal visibility of male and female characters Expressly, they represent female characters in influential, unconventional roles

Teachers are trained to call on both boys and girls in the classroom As fewer girls than boys usually tend to volunteer in class, teachers are trained to practise more cold calling to ensure equal participation

EKOEXCEL further engages in systematic gender-responsive monitoring to ensure practical evaluation of the progress of each girl child across indicators like attendance and academic performance to ensure that girls are not left behind.

The methodology underpinning EKOEXCEL also encourages the employment of female teachers, school leaders and Supervisors who serve as role models within the classroom and community It has a strict policy against corporal punishment meaning girls become more confident, expressive and engaged in class Girls are given school leadership roles through appointments of Head Girls and Prefects

They can also wear dresses, skirts or trousers depending on school activities At the same time, an effort is made to ensure all schools have well-maintained single-sex sanitation facilities Commendably, the gap has started to close with Lagos female pupils excelling in examinations and competitions, including the National Common Entrance Examinations and National Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS).

As the world marks the 2023 International Women’s Day themed ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, empirical facts show that Governor Sanwo-Olu has used the technology-driven EKOEXCEL initiative to promote gender equity in public schools For him, there is no relegating girls to the background regarding education They deserve the best, like their male counterparts, and this is what they are getting

Governor lists gains of EKOEXCEL

March 9, 2023

Lagos State Governor Babajide SanwoOlu has highlighted the gains of the transformational primary school education initiative, EKOEXCEL, launched in 2019

In an article titled: ‘The potential of Africa’s Youth is Enormous We must ensure they learn’, which he wrote and published on wise-qatar org, Sanwo-Olu explained how his government went about improving primary education and the milestones that had been recorded with EKOEXCEL

WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate and purposeful action

Mar

Education Commissioner Showcases EKOEXCEL At Int’l Conferences

LAGOS – The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Folashade Adefisayo, has showcased the achievements/impacts of EKOEXCEL at two international conferences in the United States of America

EKOEXCEL is a transformational initiative Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched in 2019 to improve public primary schools through technology deployment

It has since recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils

The initiative, overseen by the Lagos State Universal Education Board (LASUBEB), has also helped reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state, among other empirically verified achievements by international scholars. At The Brookings Institute Education Systems Transformation symposium themed: “Collaborative work, local contexts, and false dichotomies,” on February 17, Adefisayo highlighted how the Sanwo-Olu administration has been addressing issues bedevilling the state’s education sector

The Commissioner titled her presentation: “Education Systems

Transformation: The Lagos Story,” and recounted the challenges the government met on the ground and how it solved them

She disclosed that Lagos has more children in private schools, with 18,000 private schools compared to 1,017 public primary schools

The state also has 698 public junior and senior secondary schools and five public technical colleges.

Highlighting the government’s initial challenges, she said: “We had a high attrition rate because many of the students enrol but then see a form of hopelessness and go into informal training by learning to be a carpenter or hairdresser

We also have a significant out-ofschool population due to the heavy migration to Lagos from other parts of the country by parents who don’t enrol their children.

“We had low numeracy and literacy skills among the students, with some spending six years in our system unable to read It was quite scandalous, I felt We also have a national challenge with security and the high cost of building schools because Lagos is waterlogged “Mrs Adefisayo said that because Governor Sanwo-Olu made education one of the critical focuses of his administration, there have been improvements with enrolment rising in primary schools, improved learning rate, and 40 per cent growth in literacy and literacy, 80 per cent success rate in terminal exams after SS3

She attributed the successes in Lagos’ education sector to the introduction of EKOEXCEL, which has boosted the numeracy and literacy skills of pupils in primary schools, teacher training, also a critical part of EKOEXCEL, renovation, building and furnishing of classrooms, curriculum revision and leveraging the involvement of private partners

Speaking earlier at the event, Senior Fellow of The Brookings Institute, Dr Rebecca Winthrop, said it would assess its activities in the past 20 years and chart a new direction

She said the Centre would double down on the UN SDG of holistic education for all.

Dr Winthrop added that the CUE/Brookings Institute would focus on transforming all its work portfolios while embracing further co-creation with civil societies in the Global South

Adefisayo also showcased EKOEXCEL at the Comparative International Education Society’s (CIES) 2023 annual conference held from February 14 to 22 in the United States

Since its launch, EKOEXCEL has continued to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers

Over 15,000 teachers from 1,012 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme

It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (e-learning) in Lagos State primary schools.

8, 2023

Sanwo-OlutransformingeducationinLagos throughEKOEXCEL,byJideOlaniran

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development –adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit – came into force One of the goals – the No 4–is “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality of education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” This signposts the importance of education to the development of any society as it is evident in the gulf between developed and underdeveloped societies

When Mr Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu campaigned for the exalted office in 2018, he unveiled a strategic development agenda that he promised to pursue when elected as the governor of the state The agenda comprises six pillars which are Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st-century Economy; Entertainment and Tourism; and Security and Governance.

It was not a coincidence that Education is one of the pillars of Sanwo-Olu’s administration having been in government for enough time to know how crucial the sectoris to reflect the centre of excellence slogan of the state

As soon as he was elected in 2019, he began to walk the talk by prioritising Education and Technology in project execution A deliberate incremental budgetary allocation for education from eight per cent in 2020 to the current 12per cent underscores the governor’s sincerity to reform the sector from the base, which is primary education

Setting the agenda for the wind of change is one of the projects that has become a point of reference, the Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL).The innovative and transformational programme, which is managed by the Lagos State Universal

Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), provides quality education in the public system and upskills teachers by leveraging technology This underpins a study by Novel Prize winningeconomist, Prof. Michael Kremer which states that attending schools and delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains. This suggests that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lessons plan and teachers’ feedback monitoring, in their own systems

So, setting the building blocks, the EKOEXCEL initiative began with a Pre-service Professional Development and Technology Training Programme for teachers and head teachers in the state’s primary schools. A pilot scheme of 4,000 teachers from 300 primary schools across the state saw the training incorporate the use of technology devices and other tools for modern teaching in order to support teachers in achieving better learning outcomes in the classroom

Mar 6 2023

exposed to computer programmes and systems of teaching and learning via technology that is basically structured to create animations games and cartoons,” she said.

Obviously, when the 2021-2022 evaluation will be released, it will capture the impressive performances of the pupils from Lagos State in the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE)

In the 2022 academic year, 71,738 pupils were registered with 34,030 being male Lagos State registered the highest number of candidates with 19,518 out of which 18,787 sat for the examinations.

While the overall best student in the NCEE scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just three, four and five points behind the best student as Ayomide Daniel Ajayi of Hussey Military Yaba scored 198, Damilola Basit Araba of the same school had 197 and Deborah Ugbaha of St Georges Girls scored 196 Deborah, who came third among Lagos pupils who sat for the NCEE, finished first in the in-school examinations, including the end-of-term one and two examinations Ayomide and Damilola were second and third respectively, signposting the efficacy of EKOEXCEL’s methodology in boosting gender parity and improving overall academic performance

However, the trio were not the only successful Lagos pupils Others also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency Of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades More deductions from the tracking revealed that 32 pupils from 22 schools surpassed the aspirational and proficiency targets by 11.6per cent and 9.6per cent respectively, while the threshold targets for Partially and Below Proficiency were exceeded by 8per cent and 9 3per cent margins respectively

Sustaining this performance and more by the pupils, there is also the Instructional Leadership App, a software which allows school leaders to monitor and respond to issues, including the percentage of lessons completed With this app, primary school administrators can assess teachers’ performance and benchmark that against that of other schools’ performance

Lest I forget, the latest addition to the curriculum is the “Hour of Code”, a one-hour introduction to computer science for Primary 1 to 6 pupils using fun tutorials This programme is designed to demystify coding at an early age and enhance learning outcomes in public primary schools in the state.

CommissionerShowcasesEKOEXCELAt InternationalForums

The Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, has showcased the achievements and impacts of Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) at two international conferences in America

EKOEXCEL is a transformational initiative of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched in 2019 to improve public primary schools through technology deployment. It has since recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils.

The initiative overseen by the Lagos State Universal Education Board (LASUBEB) has also helped reduce the number of out-ofschool children in the state, among other empirically verified achievements by international scholars

At the Brooking’s Institute Education Systems Transformation Symposium themed: “Collaborative Work, Local Contexts, and False Dichotomies” on February 17, Adefisayo highlighted how the Sanwo-Olu administration has been addressing issues bedeviling the state’s education sector The commissioner, who titled her presentation “Education Systems Transformation: The Lagos Story,” recounted the challenges the government met on the ground and how it solved them.

She disclosed that the state has more children in private schools with 18,000 private schools compared to 1,017 public primary schools The state also has 698 public junior and senior secondary schools and five public technical colleges

Highlighting the government’s initial challenges, Adefisayo said: “We had a high attrition rate because many of the students enroll but then see a form of hopelessness and go into informal

“training by learning to be a carpenter or hairdresser. We also have a significant outof-school population due to the heavy migration to Lagos from other parts of the country by parents who don’t enroll their children

“We had low numeracy and literacy skills among the students, with some spending six years in our system unable to read; it was quite scandalous, I felt We also have a national challenge with security and the high cost of building schools because Lagos is waterlogged ”

Adefisayo said that because Sanwo-Olu made education one of the critical focuses of his administration, there have been improvements with enrolment rising in primary schools, improved learning rate, and 40 per cent growth in literacy and literacy, 80 per cent success rate in terminal exams after SS3

5 2023

Mar

Sanwo-Olu’svisioninbuildingeducation infrastructure

January 23 and 24 were landmarks in the annals of Lagos State under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu They were the days President Muhammadu Buhari visited the state to inaugurate several transformational infrastructure projects for the people’s benefit The Government itself tagged the occasion ‘Lagos Projects Festival’

And a festival it was, with the inauguration of the Lekki Deep Sea Port, Imota Rice Mill, the first phase of the Blue Rail Line and the John Randle Centre for Yoruba Culture and History meant to, among other things, help in the propagation of Yoruba culture within and outside Nigeria

Since becoming the helmsman in 2019, Governor Sanwo-Olu has not relented in upgrading the state’s infrastructure, health and education while not neglecting other pillars of his THEMES agenda Though President Buhari didn’t commission any education project during his visit, the current administration has acquitted itself creditably in that sector such that there was no need to showcase its impressive achievements This is more so as before the ‘Lagos Projects Festival’, Governor Sanwo-Olu had himself given his scorecard in education during an appearance on a popular TV programme.

Speaking during the programme, the Governor reminded one of the inimitable Chinua Achebe’s proverb about the lizard that jumped down safely from the highest Iroko tree and commended itself, even as others refused to acknowledge its feat But Mr Sanwo-Olu’s achievements in education that he highlighted were not lip service, they are facts based

“Year after year, we’ve deliberately increased our budget in education because we believe that’s one area we need to show real sustainability Last year, we did between 11 and 12 percent of our total budget To date, in infrastructure, we have built over 1047 new classrooms in less than four years

We have touched about 197 new school projects and we’ve touched close to a thousand different things in schools

We’ve added about 200,000 new chairs and benches We’ve done about 2,000 new bed spaces in boarding schools

We’ve also intervened in all the vocational schools and the likes that we have But for me, the interesting one is what we have done with primary schools which is where education truly should start.

This is where EKOEXCEL starts from We’ve given tablets to teachers in primary schools to enable them to have the same learning curriculum For teachers who are not coming, we can remotely monitor them and see who is teaching what And the quality of teaching across primary schools, we’ve made them almost the same It doesn’t matter what part of the state you are in We have seen growth in the number of pupils coming back to our primary school from private schools and elsewhere ”

The EKOEXCEL programme was introduced in 2019, to transform Early Childhood Care and Development and Primary education in all Lagos State government schools, bringing 21st Century education that is child-centred and enabled by modern practices and technology

The transformational initiative has since recorded many strides, supported by NewGlobe education services with oversight functions managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), led by Hon Wahab Alawiye King Lagos state public primary school teachers have been re-trained and moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets.

Results have been excellent. Endline tests found that after two years, despite the impact of the covid pandemic, an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil could read at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the programme

Speaking with the confidence of a man who knows he has facts to back up his utterances, he moved on to what his administration has done with secondary education “In our secondary schools, we have started a comprehensive school

28 February 2023

system meaning it’s not just basic education you receive You are taught about entrepreneurship, music, acting and cookery to make sure you are coming out with a rounded knowledge of what you want to be ”

The Governor also touched on the welfare of teachers, an improvement the Chairman of the Lagos chapter of the Nigerian Union of Teachers, Comrade Hassan Olatoye, attested to last year According to Sanwo-Olu, “we have recruited over 6000 teachers and we are not just doing it for pupils We are also ensuring that we can keep our teachers in classrooms because once they see something, they want to go into another profession.

So how have we done that? Retain them and ensure that we can identify the best teachers every year, give them skills, treat them well and give them vehicles Brand new vehicles, best teacher, year on year We have done it for three years consistently and we are beginning to see the effect During holidays, we also intervene They have extra lesson curriculums for pupils that are in Year 10, and Year 11 and you know what, we are beginning to see the result Now, we have crossed 80 per cent, in three years, including maths and English There’s a pass in our secondary schools to about 82, 83% Last year, it was about 83 and 84% We are excited about our intervention; we are beginning to see the effect and the impact

“In secondary schools, we are training our teachers. I sign a request from TESCOM daily to train over 1000 teachers monthly. Per salary, we are the highest paying in the country; we give teachers brand new cars It’s an organic system that throws the best teacher up We are not giving one or two but 13 vehicles in primary, and secondary schools The idea is not to throw prizes at people, it’s to encourage others It’s to say that you

Touching on what the government has done in tertiary institutions, Sanwo-Olu said, “our father, Lateef Jakande, created the Lagos State University some 40 years ago, but for the first time, we have more state tertiary institutions University of Science and Technology and University of Education Lagos from one now has three tertiary institutions; there are ViceChancellors already for the new institutions We have intakes, a full complement of a university We have increased our subvention three folds, and we are building two new senate buildings in the two universities ”

While the government has invested heavily in infrastructure, Sanwo-Olu has not lost track of education’s importance and is strategically revamping it. He has taken on board the advice of great political philosophers and states people like Benjamin Franklin, who have reiterated the importance of education With his focus on educating the youth to secure the state’s future, he has demonstrated a firm commitment to Franklin’s “an investment in knowledge pays the best interest ” Whenever historians and others look back at this era in Lagos’ history, they would see a committed leader who believes in the redeeming power of quality education Thorpe, an education consultant, wrote from Lagos

“would be identified and be encouraged.”

ThePotentialofAfrica’sYouthisEnormous.We MustEnsureTheyLearn.

February 19, 2023

2023 is a demographic tipping point for Africa’s youth. According to the World Bank, for the first time in recorded history, we will have the largest population of young people on the planet

As Governor of Nigeria’s most populous state, home to Africa’s largest city, I carry the responsibility for maximizing the potential of our human capital, especially that of our young people

That potential is great We are a youthful country, with more than 40% below the age of 15 Already the largest in Africa, a young and growing population offers us the chance to build on Lagos State’s role as the economic hub of Nigeria, and Nigeria’s as the economic hub for the entire continent

But historically, educational outcomes in Nigeria have been very poor. The World Bank estimates that currently some 70% of ten-year-olds across the country are in so-called “learning poverty” – meaning they are unable to read even a simple sentence with comprehension

Ensuring that Lagos can harness its growing population to drive prosperity, growth and security not only within the state but within the country requires an education system that delivers learning

I have made education a priority Our “Leave No Child Behind Policy” has been the driver behind an enrollment policy designed to make sure all children in Lagos State go to school We are succeeding – the vast majority do now attend – but investing in enrollment is not enough.

It is vital to ensure that children are not just attending school. They must learn to their best abilities. That requires a commitment to focus remorselessly on driving up learning outcomes

Here in Lagos State we have made exactly such a commitment In 2019, with support from our technical partners NewGlobe, we launched EKOEXCEL, a program designed to transform the learning outcomes of all pupils across all our public primary schools

We began with our teachers The quality of our education cannot exceed the quality of our educators, and we recognize that the best possible support for our teachers is vital More than 14,000 teachers have been trained and upskilled in proven teaching techniques Each one is supported to teach world class-quality lessons, with the same curriculum and same lesson notes based upon cuttingedge pedagogy delivered through their own personal teacher tablet.

That also provides real-time monitoring from every classroom in every school EKOEXCEL leaders are able to track not only student performance, but a whole range of other crucial indicators, including teacher attendance, student attendance and lesson completion

Access to such comprehensive learning data may be commonplace in the Global North, but in Africa it is revolutionary. UNESCO estimates that there is no learning data at all for two-thirds of African children

With strong support from teachers, school leaders and teaching unions, we have expanded EKOEXCEL to cover every public primary school in Lagos State –more than 1,000 schools, reaching more than 350,000 students

Results have been excellent Endline tests found that after two years, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL student could read at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the program

The learning gains we have seen in EKOEXCEL echo the findings from a study of the methodology which underpins our program, one led by the Nobel Prize winning economist Professor Michael Kremer That study found learning gains ‘among the largest ever measured in international education’ when it tracked learning outcomes in schools in Kenya

Early monitoring also found the program was delivering gender equity gains, with girls registered at EKOEXCEL schools 8% more likely to attend than girls at other schools.

The entire program is geared towards gender equity. All artwork and creative stories in textbooks and work-books are commissioned to ensure equal visibility of male and female characters, and specifically represent female characters in powerful, unconventional roles

We are proud of our achievements, and proud that in 2022 EKOEXCEL was awarded the Titans of Tech Award for Best Innovative Digital Learning Platform, thanks to its evidence-based impact

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was frank when he spoke to fellow delegates at the Transforming Education Summit in September.

He told them that education systems were not making the grade and failing students and societies Transformation was required Countries were asked to sign up to a global Commitment to Learning; which Nigeria did It is one of the few countries globally delivering on that commitment

Early monitoring also found the program was delivering gender equity gains, with girls registered at EKOEXCEL schools 8% more likely to attend than girls at other schools

The entire program is geared towards gender equity All artwork and creative stories in textbooks and work-books are commissioned to ensure equal visibility of male and female characters, and specifically represent female characters in powerful, unconventional roles

Teachers are trained to call on both boys and girls in the classroom. As fewer girls than boys usually tend to volunteer in class, teachers are trained to practise more cold calling to ensure equal participation.

We are proud of our achievements, and proud that in 2022 EKOEXCEL was awarded the Titans of Tech Award for Best Innovative Digital Learning Platform, thanks to its evidence-based impact.

The UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres was frank when he spoke to fellow delegates at the Transforming Education Summit in September

LASUBEBpromisesincreasedfemaleparticipation inSTEM

February 14, 2023

Executive Chairman of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), Wahab Alawiye-King, has said the state will not be left behind in the global push to increase female participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM)

While recognising that the participation of women in STEM is critical to the state and country’s sustainable development, he said that Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) recognises the crucial role of STEM in shaping the future and driving sustainable development

EKOEXCEL is the transformational primary education initiative of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, which he launched in 2019

“Addressing the gender imbalance in STEM was one of the reasons Governor Sanwo-Olu inaugurated EKOEXCEL in 2019 and we are happy with our strides

No nation grows without science and technology, and we have seen that to have an economy in tune with our megacity status, we have to encourage females in STEM

“Our female pupils are happy learning science and doing experiments They continue to admit their joy in being taught in our schools where no effort is being spared to give them the best science education. Indeed, I am glad that EKOEXCEL is delivering on this front,” he said

Using innovative digital learning solutions, EKOEXCEL has prioritised girls’ education It is empowering a new generation of confident, successful girls by promoting gender parity in education, opportunity and accountability

2023InternationalDayofEducation–Prioritising educationinNigeria

January 25, 2023

January 24 is the UN’s International Day of Education The theme for 2023 is “Invest in people, prioritise education ”

UNESCO, the UN’s education arm, makes a compelling case for such investment:

“Without inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all, countries will not succeed in achieving gender equality and breaking the cycle of poverty that is leaving millions of children, youth and adults behind ”

Of course governments do already invest vast sums of money in education Kenya, for example, spends nearly 5% of its GDP according to the World Bank, more than it spends on anything else

Although the average for sub-Saharan Africa is lower at 3 4% – below the global average of 4 3% – international donors also contribute very large sums

The Global Partnership for Education invests funds raised from donor countries such as the US and UK. It estimates it has granted more than $231 million for education in Kenya alone since 2005, and more than $275 million for Nigeria over the last decade In total, GPE has spent more than $5 7 billion of donor funding on education across sub-Saharan Africa But despite such levels of government and international spending, education outcomes are at crisis levels

The World Bank’s most recent update estimates that 89% of ten-year-olds in the region cannot read a simple sentence

The Covid pandemic and associated school closures are not to blame “Learning poverty was very high even

before the pandemic,” says the Bank

Nor is a lack of enrollment 90% of primary age children attend school in low and middle income countries

These grim statistics make clear that prioritizing education is not enough. What must be prioritized is learning.

Increasingly, visionary leaders across Africa are changing the way they spend money on education, by investing in outcomes – clear learning gains for their students

In Lagos State in Nigeria, the EKOEXCEL basic education programme is a prime example of this new approach Thousands of government teachers and school leaders have been re-trained and are now supported to teach in a digital and scientific way across all the State’s public primary schools

Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu explains his Government invested in EKOEXCEL in order “to change the learning outcomes from our schools We believe a solid foundation for our children starts with qualitative primary education ”

Supported by NewGlobe as its technical partner, the program ensures every teacher receives comprehensive instructional guidance for every lesson, based upon cutting edge pedagogical research.

The technology enables world-class quality lessons, specifically designed to maximize learning, to be delivered by all teachers

It also provides real-time monitoring from every classroom in every school. EKOEXCEL leaders know each lesson is a high-quality one and can track not only student performance, but a whole range of other crucial indicators, as Governor Sanwo-Olu explains:

“We have been able to have tablets that are given to teachers at primary schools for them to have the same learning curriculum They have the same lesson notes

And it ensures that we can reduce absenteeism, truancies, and even teachers not coming We can remotely monitor them and see who is teaching what and the quality of teaching across primary schools ”

Results are excellent According to the Lagos State education board, EKOEXCEL is dramatically accelerating learning, with children learning two times more maths and three times more in literacy Early monitoring also found the program was delivering gender equity gains, with girls attending EKOEXCEL schools 8% more likely to attend than girls at schools other schools.

The training and support for teachers through EKOEXCEL draws praise from teaching unions

Akintoye Hassan, chair of the Lagos State National Union of Teachers,

praises the way his members have been supported

“EKOEXCEL has brought about change as teaching and learning have become more pupil-centred As you are teaching, you are also learning The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance,” he said “The pre-introduction training organised by EKOEXCEL assisted in reducing the level of scepticism It has been a pleasant story ”

The teaching methods underpinning EKOEXCEL and all the programs supported by NewGlobe have been independently studied in Kenya by a team led by Professor Michael Kremer, Nobel Prize winner for Economics in 2019.

It reported that students taught using the methods made some of the biggest learning gains ever found in such a study

The same methods also support education transformation programs run by the Governments of Edo and Kwara States in Nigeria and the nationwide RwandaEquip program, which describes itself as:

“The Government of Rwanda’s transformative program to make the country’s basic education system globally competitive ”

In each case, gathering regular and accurate data on how students are performing has been key to success Sadly, that remains a rarity in sub-Saharan Africa – UNESCO points out that there is no data at all on the learning levels of two-thirds of African children

There is ample evidence to support UNESCO’s argument that quality education boosts economic opportunity.

A new study co-authored by the Yidan Prize winner Professor Eric Hanushek spells it out.

“According to our projections based on historical patterns of long-run growth, the world would gain $718 trillion in added GDP over the remaining century if it were to reach global universal basic skills This is equivalent to over five times current annual world GDP ”

But driving-up learning outcomes does even more As Dr Liesbet Steer, Executive Director of the Education Commission explains, investing in human capital is also vital to saving the planet from climate disaster “Greater investment in education, especially for girls and women, is a critical means of enhancing adaptive capacities over the long term investments in women’s and girls’ education offer the potential dual benefit of furthering climate action while increasing overall social equity ”

On International Day of Education, we should be clear that investment which drives-up learning and transforms outcomes for students must be our priority And clear also that if it can be achieved, the gains across Africa and for the whole world will be transformational too.

Int’lEducationDay:HowLagosprioritiseseducation byinvestinginpeoplethroughEkoExcel

Education is believed to be a lethal weapon to conquer poverty by developing needful skills that will make people wealthy and selfsufficient

With this knowledge Babajide SanwoOlu, governor of Lagos State and his team have demonstrated a great understanding of what it means to build human capacity via education by investing heavily in people of the state through EkoExcel

Sanwo-Olu’s investment in the people through EkoExcel is in tandem with the theme of the 2023 International Education Day; “to invest in people, prioritize education” to be celebrated on Tuesday, January 24

International Day of Education (IED) is an annual international observance day held on January 24 and is dedicated to education The 2023 edition is the fifth of the event that commenced in 2018

Moreover, Thorpe reiterated that the governor does not just mouth off about providing quality education, alluding that his track record of performance since assuming office in 2019, with several proof points, speaks for him

Lagos State has executed 1,400 projects since the inception of SanwoOlu’s administration Besides, the state employed over 7,000 teachers to replace our fast-ageing teachers

According to Folasade Adefisayo, commissioner for education in a brief scorecard at the state’s education summit, “Lagos State teachers are the best paid in Nigeria

“Lagos’ laser focus on improving the quality and well-being of teachers alongside pupils would have warmed the heart of UNESCO, the UN’s education arm, which regularly

campaigns for quality investment in education

“The priority to human – pupils and teachersdevelopment also aligns with the theme of this year’s IDE, ‘Investing in people, prioritising education.’

Despite the global growth rate, some societies still sadly dismiss education as unnecessary But the IDE is a call to action It notes that inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong opportunities for all will help countries achieve gender equality and break the cycle of poverty

This is incredibly comforting as children and youth are out of school, with 771 million adults illiterate To arrest the slide in the education sector and fulfil his promise of providing Lagosians with quality education, the Lagos State government has focused on human capital development through strategic interventions, including the renowned EKOExcel, that has attracted global commendation

Thousands of government teachers and school leaders have been re-trained They are now supported to teach digitally and scientifically across all the State’s public primary schools.

The technology enables world-class quality lessons, specifically designed to maximise learning, to be delivered by all teachers It

also provides real-time monitoring from every classroom in every school

Sanwo-Olu once explained that the EkoExcel leaders know each lesson is a high-quality one and can track not only student performance but a whole range of other crucial indicators, as “We have been able to have tablets that are given to teachers at primary schools for them to have the same learning curriculum. They have the same lesson notes. And it ensures that we can reduce absenteeism, truancies, and even teachers not coming We can remotely monitor them and see who is teaching what and the quality of teaching across primary schools,” he said The project has upskilled public primary school head teachers and teachers from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula

It has also captured all 1,012 public primary schools and enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

Apart from introducing technology, he maintained that Lagos does not joke with the welfare of teachers and has introduced reward schemes, including the annual teachers’ merits awards and strategic partnerships and support f

24, 2023

Jan

or the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), the professional association of teachers

To this effect, Akintoye Hassan, chairman of the Lagos State National Union of Teachers ( NUT) could not but praise the way his members have been supported by the state government

Alhaji Abubakar, a bureau de change operator expressed his joy for the benefits his children got from the programme.

“My three children in primary four, two and kindergarten are doing well. I go to their school to check up with their teachers and am happy with their performance,” Abubakar said

There is no doubt that the governor is aware of the transformational abilities of quality education, and he gives pupils a more optimistic future while upskilling their teachers for a beneficial 21st-century education system with the highly effective EkoExcel

‘Sanwo-OluinvestsinpeoplethroughEKOEXCEL’

January 23, 2023

Lagos-based educationist, Misan Thorpe Kudos, has hailed Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for prioritising education, especially by investing in people through EkoExcel

He spoke while assessing the education sector as Lagos State marked this year’s International Education Day.

Thorpe said the governor had never ceased to affirm his administration’s commitment to providing quality and 21st-century relevant education in his affirmation and confirmation in several of his speeches

The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Lagos State chapter, Akintoye Hassan, praised the way his members had been supported

Sanwo-OluTransformingEducationInLagos ThroughEKOEXCELByJideOlaniran

20-Jan-2023

On 1 January 2016, the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development – adopted by world leaders in September 2015 at a historic UN Summit – came into force One of the goals – the No 4 – is “to ensure inclusive and equitable quality of education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all” This signposts the importance of education to the development of any society as it is evident in the gulf between developed and underdeveloped societies.

When Mr Babajide Olusola SanwoOlu campaigned for the exalted office in 2018, he unveiled a strategic development agenda that he promised to pursue when elected as the governor of the state The agenda comprises six pillars which are Traffic Management and Transportation; Health and Environment; Education and Technology; Making Lagos a 21st-century Economy; Entertainment and Tourism; and Security and Governance

Setting the agenda for the wind of change is one of the projects that has become a point of reference, the Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL)

The innovative and transformational programme, which is managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), provides quality education in the public system and upskills teachers by leveraging technology. This underpins a study by Novel Prize winningeconomist, Prof. Michael Kremer which states that attending schools and delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains This suggests that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lessons plan and teachers’ feedback monitoring, in their own systems

Kremer’s study also suggests that if the methodology is replicated across public education systems, the learning gains will be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher So, setting the building blocks, the EKOEXCEL initiative began with a Preservice Professional Development and Technology Training Programme for teachers and headteachers in the state’s primary schools. A pilot scheme of 4,000

teachers from 300 primary schools across the state saw the training incorporate the use of technology devices and other tools for modern teaching in order to support teachers in achieving better learning outcomes in the classroom

The programme, which commenced in 2020, has seen 18,000 teachers move from analogue to digital teaching using tablets and an updated curriculum, which has impacted over 450,000 pupils in public primary schools in the state As the curriculum is being updated to meet the demand of the present day, so also is the complementary infrastructural upgrade through massive construction and renovation of existing educational infrastructure with the completion of more than 1,097 school projects, upgrade and rehabilitation of 322 dilapidated public schools and furnishing of primary schools with 87,000 dual composite units of chairs and desks

Afolake, who had believed teaching is limited to standing before the pupils with a writing board to explain lessons, experienced teaching in its contemporary form. In her words “I’m highly excited to be part of the training, and I want to appreciate the governor for taking such a bold initiative to better position education in Lagos. We were exposed to computer programmes and systems of teaching and learning via technology that is basically structured to create animations games and cartoons,” she said

Despite the outbreak of Covid-19 impacting education in Lagos, the EKOEXCEL programme and the governor’s vision enabled children to continue learning unlike many of their peers across Nigeria As schools were closed during the pandemic, EKOEXCEL launched blended learning with the adaption of the EKOEXCEL @Home initiative to ensure that learning continued even in remote and poorly internetconnected communities The programme consisted of selfstudy activity packets, learning guides, interactive audio sessions, virtual classroom experiences and WhatsApp quizzes As an initiative that leverages technology, 450,000 mp3s with pre-recorded lessons were distributed, making it the largest learning technology rollout on the continent for remote learning

It is noteworthy that the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the investment and affirmed the strategic intervention’s impact. The evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making substantial progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative came into force

Obviously, when the 2021-2022 evaluation will be released, it will capture the impressive performances of the pupils from Lagos State in the National Common Entrance

Examination (NCEE) In the 2022 academic year, 71,738 pupils were registered with 34,030 being male Lagos State registered the highest number of candidates with 19,518 out of which 18,787 sat for the examinations

While the overall best student in the NCEE scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just three, four and five points behind the best student as Ayomide

Daniel Ajayi of Hussey Military Yaba scored 198, Damilola

Basit Araba of the same school had 197 and Deborah Ugbaha of St Georges Girls scored 196 Deborah, who came third among Lagos pupils who sat for the NCEE, finished first in the in-school examinations, including the end-of-term one and two examinations. Ayomide and Damilola were second and third respectively, signposting the efficacy of EKOEXCEL’s methodology in boosting gender parity and improving overall academic performance.

However, the trio were not the only successful Lagos pupils

Others also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency. Of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades. More deductions from the tracking revealed that 32 pupils from 22 schools surpassed the aspirational and proficiency targets by 11.6 per cent and 9.6 per cent respectively, while the threshold targets for Partially and Below Proficiency were exceeded by 8 per cent and 9 3 per cent margins respectively

It is not surprising to see stakeholders commend the impact of the EKOEXCEL initiative in transforming primary education in the state. They were unanimous in their appraisal during the 2022 Lagos State Education Summit.

2022

LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELannouncespost-primary counsellingatparent-teachers’conference

30th December, 2022

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB)’s Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) has trained parents and guardians, particularly those with children in Primary Six, on how to prepare for their transition to secondary schools

EKOEXCEL introduced the Primary Six counselling initiative at the justended Parent Teachers Conference across all the 1012 public primary schools in Lagos

Part of EKOEXCEL’s effort to continue delivering life-changing education for all pupils, it also helped parents and guardians decide early about the education pathway for their children and wards.

The EKOEXCEL technical support team, alongside teachers, explained why parents needed to be well informed about available secondary schools and how EKOEXCEL prepares pupils for life and learning at the higher school at the conference Parents were also informed of their children’s five main secondary school options, the requirements for each and assessing the pupils’ academic ability

The five main options shared with parents at the forum were federal unity colleges, Lagos State model colleges, Lagos State community schools, military secondary schools and private secondary schools.

The facilitators also enlightened parents on specific examinations that qualify students for each secondary school, including the Lagos State Placement Test (LSPT), Lagos State Screening Test (LSST) for model colleges, National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for federal unity schools, and military and private school examinations

Highlighting how EKOEXCEL aids the preparations of Year Sic pupils, LASUBEB Chairman, Wahab Alawiye-King, said the initiative has “Common Entrance prep lessons which are delivered via teachers’ computers daily These lessons mirror the expectations of the different kinds of examinations required for any education pathway ” He added that “EKOEXCEL also conducts a Unified Mock Common Entrance Examination from the third term of Primary Five

This means that a Primary Six child would have had several examination opportunities to practice before the actual examination in primary six. EKOEXCEL bridges literacy and numeracy gaps by delivering supplementary lessons so that all children with foundational issues can resolve those gaps, read adequately and be prepared for secondary school success ”

Parents, who attended the conference hailed EKOEXCEL for the Primary Six Post-primary Counselling initiative, noting that it was informative and would assist them in making good choices for their children They also shared their expectations for their children

One Mrs Modupe Omotayo, who has two children at CMS Primary School, Bariga, said, “the session was very informative I expect my children to perform excellently, and they should come out with flying colours in their external exams ”

Mr Sunday Taiwo, who has five children in the same school, said, “the conference was okay It helped me pick the type of school my child would attend I must also commend the EKOEXCEL method for teaching my children

Another parent, Mrs Uchechi Obinwa, whose two children attend Deacon Adelaja Primary School, Bariga, said she learnt how to process the school of her choice and expects her children’s performance to improve with Lagos state’s introduction of EKOEXCEL.

“The conference was exciting and, at the same time, educating Now, I expect my children to come out with flying colours in their common entrance examination,” said Mr Mohammed Ndababa, whose children attend CMS Primary School Bariga He added that “EKOEXCEL has increased my children’s IQ ”

Since its inauguration in 2019 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL, operated by LASUBEB with technical support from the global edtech platform, New Globe, has increased learning gains among Lagos pupils and upskilled over 90 per cent of Lagos State primary teachers.

Basic education regulator introduces post primary school counseling for parents

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) has introduced a post-primary counselling initiative for parents and guardians with children in primary six through its Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) programme

The EKOEXCEL was tailored on how to prepare for their children’s transition from primary six to secondary school

The primary six counselling initiative was introduced at the just concluded Parent-Teachers conference held across the 1012 public primary schools in Lagos

Wahab Alawiye-King, the executive chairman of LASUBEB in his speech said that the initiative has common entrance preparatory lessons which are delivered via teachers’ computers daily According to him, “These lessons mirror the expectations of the different kinds of examinations required for any education pathway

“EKOEXCEL also conducts a Unified Mock Common Entrance Examination from the third term of primary five This means that a primary six child would have had several examination opportunities to practice before the actual examination in primary six

“Finally, EKOEXCEL bridges literacy and numeracy gaps by delivering supplementary lessons so that all children with foundational issues can resolve those gaps, read adequately and be prepared for secondary school success ”

The executive chairman reiterated that it is part of Lagos State’s effort to continue delivering life-changing education for all pupils, and that it would also help parents and guardians decide early about the education pathway for their children and wards.

The technical support team of the initiative, alongside some teachers present at the conference explained why parents needed to be well informed about available secondary schools and how EKOEXCEL prepares pupils for life and learning at the higher school

Parents were also informed of their children’s five main secondary school options, the requirements for each and assessing the pupils’ academic ability. The five main options shared with parents at the forum were federal unity colleges, Lagos State model colleges, Lagos State community schools, military secondary schools and private secondary schools

Some parents who attended the conference commended EKOEXCEL for the primary six post-primary counselling initiative, noting that it was informative and would assist them in making good choices for their children.

Modupe Omotayo, a parent with two children at CMS Primary School, Bariga, shared her experience thus; “the session was very informative I expect my children to perform excellently, and they should come out with flying colours in their external exams ”

For Sunday Taiwo, a parent with five children in the same school, “the conference was okay. It helped me pick the type of school my children would attend. I must commend the EKOEXCEL method for teaching my children ”

Uchechi Obinwa, a mother with two children at Deacon Adelaja Primary School, Bariga applauded the organisers and explained that she learnt how to process the school of her choice and expects her children’s performance to improve with Lagos State’s introduction of EKOEXCEL

Since its inauguration in 2019 by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the governor of Lagos State, EKOEXCEL being operated by LASUBEB with technical support from the global edtech platform, New Globe, has increased learning gains among Lagos pupils and upskilled over 90 percent of primary school teachers in the state.

26th December, 2022

PupilsUnderEKOEXCELAnticipateImproved PerformancesInTerm2

7th December, 2022

Pupils of Lagos State Public Primary schools have concluded their first-term examinations and commenced their vacation; they will be welcomed back to school for a new term on the 9th of January, 2023

EKOEXCEL, an innovative digital initiative through the years has been a driving force of change in the Lagos State Basic education sector It has transformed ECCDE and Primary education in all Lagos State government schools, bringing 21st Century education that is childcentered and enabled by modern practices and technology

LEADERSHIP checks showed that the overall results for term 1 were remarkable; especially for female pupils who accounted for 49 19 per cent of total registered pupils for term 1 given credence to the fact that EKOEXCEL has continually ensured that no child is left behind in Lagos by conducting constant assessments throughout the term, intense revisions, and mock examinations

In the same vein, review of term 1 using EKOEXCEL’s data generating system, Spotlight, an application that empowers head teachers and government leaders with the ability to track attendance and performance; see which lessons are working and how both teachers and children are doing, accessible via laptops, smartphones or tablets, indicated that an average of 97 per cent of head teachers were present through the term and an average 91% continuing pupils for the just concluded term.

One of the high points of term 1 was the tremendous achievements of three pupils under the EKOEXCEL programme representing Lagos State at the 25th annual JETS Competition, where John Daniel from St Francis Primary School, Maryland, came second in the quiz competition, while two girls, Unique Emmanuel and Sarah Adeyemi of Monsuru Agoro Primary School, Mafoluku, took the third position in the project competition

Speaking on the conclusion of term 1, LASUBEB Chair, Hon Wahab Alawiyeking, commended the pupils for their desire and eagerness to learn and improve on their previous performances which was evident in their overall results

He also applauded the teachers for their steadfast commitments to ensure that the quality of education in Lagos public primary schools meet and even exceeds the expected standards.

Alawiye-King went on to wish all pupils and teachers a merry Christmas and a happy new year in advance as well as preparing for next term to keep up the good performances

Catching up with pupils after their examinations, most felt very good about their work, they did not feel out of place or confused because of how much they have been propped for success

Sanwo-Olu,SettingTheBenchmarkFor EducationInNigeria:TheEKOEXCELCase-Study

7th December, 2022

When he formally launched his bid for a second term on Saturday, December

3, Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu touched on his achievements in education

He said, “Lagosians can testify to our feats in education Over 1,000 new classrooms have been added to public schools, and we completed over 1,097 projects in schools

“We trained our teachers in modern teaching techniques through EKOEXCEL and handed over tablets to them for teaching. Overall performance of Lagos students in WAEC has improved from 42 per cent to over 83 per cent.

“Though he was right, the Governor somewhat undersold his achievements Apart from being a key pillar of his THEMES development plan for Nigeria’s first megacity, Sanwo-Olu has demonstrated uncommon commitment to the overall educational development in the state Looking at the state’s annual budget since his coming into office, education has taken a significant portion after health and infrastructure

“In 2022, he allocated the lion’s share of N171 6 billion to education and next year, it will take the third largest share of the budget While 20 06 per cent (N339 billion) of the 2023 budget is for infrastructure and, 11.29 per cent (N191 billion) for healthcare and the environment, 9.07 per cent (N153.5 billion) is for education.

“Apart from the budgetary allocations, the Governor is also taking concrete policy steps to improve learning by empowering and motivating teachers to give their best while creating a conducive learning environment for pupils

Undergirding all this is the deployment of technology to improve basic education further and bring Lagos’ to par with what obtains in other countries with EKOEXCEL, a strategic technologydriven intervention that continues to record remarkable successes Part of EKOEXCEL’s success has been improving learning gains among pupils Commendably, empirical studies have affirmed this

The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance.

Year 6 pupils were also outstanding in the previous National Common Entrance Examination

Another study by award-winning Nobel laureate, Professor Michael Kremer, also acknowledged the impacts of EKOEXCEL’s methodology as being implemented by its technical partner, New Globe, which operates the same in Kenya

Kremer and his co-authors, including Guthrie Gray-Lobe, Anthony Keats, Isaac Mbiti and Owen Ozier, critically examined the benefits to student outcomes of a structured and standardised approach to teaching and learning in Kenya

Its findings showed that primary students through Grade 6 gained almost an additional year of learning (0 89) under the NewGlobe integrated methodology, learning in two years what their peers learn in nearly three

For early childhood school students, the gains are even more significant. Those students supported by NewGlobe gained almost an additional year and a half of learning, learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

Kremer noted that “this study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their systems

“Apart from the transformational innovation, the Lagos State government has also prioritised teachers’ welfare by upskilling them and improving their welfare.

At this year’s Lagos State Annual Teachers’ Merits awards, Governor Sanwo-Olu presented 13 teachers and administrators with brand-new SUVs and other prizes, rewarding them for excellence and diligence in teaching

Among the 13 were four public primary school teachers under the EKOEXCEL programme

On that occasion, the governor reiterated his administration’s commitment to using education as a weapon to develop Lagos and influence the teaching profession

“Through EKOEXCEL, thousands of teachers have been up-skilled through re-training and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms

“This accentuates the importance of education to this administration and our continuous effort to strengthen the workforce’s capacity through employment opportunities for qualified teachers with a passion for teaching.

“We have also instilled local and international training for our teachers, creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning,” he said

At the 2022 World Teachers’ Day celebration, Sanwo-Olu announced the approval of a pay raise for teachers

That was in addition to implementing new welfare packages for the teachers, further underscoring the governor’s commitment to their wellbeing

But the most important is the pupils

The current administration has not held anything back from ensuring that the ones in school have an enjoyable time and remain there while the out-ofschool ones join them.

The state has significantly reduced its burden through its flagship Project Zero explicitly dedicated to out-ofschool children.

LASUBEB’s enrollment drives, supported by EKOEXCEL’s support team are also helping to tackle the outof-school menace Because it’s now a knowledge economy and the future belongs to those with adequate knowledge, the introduction of technology including learning tablets has stirred pupils’ interest in science, as three pupils who represented the state in the 2022 National Jets Competition were admitted

John Daniel from St Francis Primary School, Maryland, who came second in the quiz competition, said, “My favourite thing about the EKOEXCEL programme is the striving pupils and the great work sections of the character board, which keeps every learner on their toes both morally and academically It has allowed me to keep adding to my ever-growing vocabulary with new words learned from the vocabulary section of most subjects

“Two girls who presented an air and temperature monitoring system they developed using an embedded approach, Unique Emmanuel and Sarah Adeyemi of Monsuru Agoro Primary School, Mafoluku, also hailed the intervention.

Emmanuel said, “EKOEXCEL has impacted more knowledge in my life I have learned so many things through the programme, and I so much love the strive points

“Learning through the EKOEXCEL programme has made me know faster and think faster It has also made me organised and punctual in school It allows for interaction whenever our teacher asks us to discuss it during a lesson ”

Adeyemi, on her part, commended the variety of textbooks they get under the scheme

“This helps me to read widely and acquire more knowledge. It also helped me to excel in my last JETS competition and brought victory to the state and the school. “EKOEXCEL motivates us to learn in class through songs and teaching.

“Instructively, the technology successfully deployed in primary schools is now being adopted in secondary schools with the recent unveiling of a newly-built containerised technology-driven modular classroom block in Vetland Junior Grammar School, Agege.

At the unveiling, Governor Sanwo-Olu said the nine-classroom block was built to replace decrepit concrete structures in Vetland Junior Grammar School, a government-owned model college

The interactive modular classrooms were improvised using standardised reusable freight compartments, known as containers Each classroom compartment is adequately insulated to give comfort and create a conducive ambience for hybrid learning for children in public secondary schools

The governor said the IT-enabled modular interactive classrooms would make a lasting impact on the state’s effort to make basic education accessible.

Aside from equipping the classrooms with interactive touch screens, Mr Sanwo-Olu said the pupils would be given electronic tablets to aid both inclass and virtual learning

“The development of containerised modular classrooms is a welcome milestone on our journey toward ensuring that no child is left behind in Lagos Our goal, as a government, is to build learning spaces of the future, thereby bequeathing public schools that are driven by cutting-edge technology and that can compete favourably with the best schools anywhere in the world,” he said

With the priority he has given education, there’s no gainsaying that Mr. Sanwo-Olu would do more in his second term so that Lagos becomes the best nationally.

…Thorpe, a child development and education consultant, writes from Lagos.

1st December 2022

EKOEXCELshowcasedat28thEconomic Summit

NewGlobe Nigeria, a global leader in learning and learning expert, has showcased the success story of its EKOEXCEL at the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit (#NES28).

Its Group Managing Director, Omowale David-Ashiru, described EKOEXCEL to the gathering as a successful local education transformation programme for eradicating learning poverty in Nigeria

EKOEXCEL is being implemented by Lagos State while Edo and Kwara state governments are also implementing such holistic methodology

Specifically, the programme is being used in Lagos State to drive excellence in learning for 500,000 pupils across public primary schools Through the programme, over 14 thousand existing government teachers are being upskilled through re-training and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms.

The NES #28 convened national and global policymakers, business leaders, development partners, civil society leaders and scholars to articulate the country’s development imperatives that satisfy the need for economic security and sustainability, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability

It was attended by many leaders, including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning Zainab Ahmed; other ministers as well as members of the private sector

David-Ashiru spoke as a panellist on an interactive session tagged, “Eradicating Learning Deprivation” alongside Ms Cristian Munduate, UNICEF Country Representative, Mrs. Maryam Uwais (MFR), Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Ms Abisola Obasanya, Director Arc Lights Foundation and Dr Hamid Bobboyi, Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) The session discussed solving Nigeria’s learning deprived children rate of 70%, according to UNICEF

She noted that learning deprivation or learning poverty is a global problem exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic in African countries like Nigeria, where the combination of outof-school children and the poor rate of learning for those in school gravely threaten the potential of future economic growth and social development.

She cited the June 2022 report by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF FCDO, which shed light on proven solutions, prescribing focus areas for progress

According to David-Ashiru, “There are existing examples of a holistic methodology already delivering value for Nigerian children in Edo, Lagos and Kwara states”

“There are three distinct examples in Nigeria running statewide intricate public-school systems built upon four core aspects: A digital learning platform, adaptive instructional content, teacher training and coaching, and 360-degree support

“Within this holistic system are many sets of practices, such as school management, learning and development, instructional guidance, and feedback Schools in this system are being transformed using technology and data, every school is transparent and accessible to its political leaders; decisions and policies are databased and children are learning at a speed not seen before in Nigeria

“This learning methodology was the subject of a two-year study led by 2019 Nobel Prize winning Professor Michael Kremer.

“The Kremer Study finds that NewGlobe methods deliver unequivocal major learning gains across every academic year in NewGlobe-supported schools, compared with other schools,” the group managing director said

These are particularly large in the “key grades” for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), primary classes One and Two

Kremer and his co-authors found that students in early childhood years supported by NewGlobe received the equivalent of an additional year and a half of learning in two years

Political leaders across the continent are coming to learn from Nigeria’s systems and then implementing them in their own countries.

LASUBEBHoldsCapacityBuildingFor OptimisationOfEKOEXCEL’sEfficacy

29th November, 2022

In line with best practices through EKOEXCEL to assure a top-notch quality of instruction in the Lagos State primary schools, the Lagos State Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) recently conducted multi-faceted training sessions for its Basic Education Quality Assurance (BEQA) officers to strengthen their functions in mentoring and monitoring of the state primary schools. This capacity building represents the kick-off of a new system of bi-weekly capacity buildings for the school management officers

The trainees were taken through the data-driven technology-based model of instruction and school management being implemented in EKOEXCEL and equipped with technical expertise in driving improvements in the key performance indices (KPIs) of a strong school, which include teacher and pupil attendance, lesson completion, data entry into the EKOEXCEL server, pupil enrollment, and learning outcomes

The eighth-day training exercise was conducted between Monday, November 7 and Wednesday, November 16 and involved 180 officials drawn from each Local Government Education Authority (LGEA). The training exercise, which took place in four local government areas across the state, to ensure no BEQA official was disenfranchised due to logistics, covered areas like Epe, Ifako Ijaiye, Maryland and Ojo

According to LASUBEB, the trainees are fully ready to commence their responsibilities as School Management Officers, providing mentoring and monitoring support to head teachers and teachers in the public primary schools, adding that it would not only empower and develop the BEQA field officers in their careers but also bring them up to speed with how knowledge is being impacted

across other parts of the world by including technology in the basic education system

Speaking at the closing of the training sessions, LASUBEB Permanent Board Member overseeing the EKOEXCEL programme, Bayo Adefuye, addressed and charged the newly inducted officers to be passionate and driven with their new responsibilities and duties.

He said: “This task ahead is a very very important task I am sure there is no gain in saying much, you already know your roles You are the heart and soul of the EKOEXCEL programme now because you are the field officers and that is where most of EKOEXCEL’s work is done; you are the ones to keep the teachers on their toes, to keep them working, to mentor them

“There is something we are trying to achieve with EKOEXCEL, we are trying to achieve optimum performance, we are trying to achieve efficiency and a higher level of education

"The governor has invested a lot into this programme and we must maintain its success for the benefit of the children,” he said. All trainees across all four centres participated actively and enthusiastically as sessions were delivered, and each trainee had the opportunity to practise and receive feedback during scrimmages and after the micro-teaching assessment

Micro-teaching and quizzes were administered to trainees in the mentoring category through the capacity building programme to check for trainees’ understanding of sessions delivered and remediation was done across the centres based on areas where trainees had lowest scores in the assessment”, he said

The eighth-day training flags off a revamped system of bi-weekly capacity building in all areas of the technology-

enabled school management system that has tagged the EKOEXCEL programme as a game-changer in the attainment of the Lagos State government’s agenda to attain SDG4

Lagos State public primary school teachers will benefit from this focus on continuous professional development, which is driven by a dedicated team of School Management Officers who are able to cover over 1,000 Lagos State primary schools weekly, providing training, mentorship and support to ensure that the key performance indices of a storing school are constantly improved upon Launched in 2019, EKOEXCEL has made laudable/noteworthy achievements since then

Over 90% of Lagos State public primary school head-teachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula The education reform programme has also recorded remarkable gains in enhancing the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools.

The transformational intervention has also boosted uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum. Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across Lagos’ 1,012 public primary schools Commendably, all the achievements are not just based on conjectures

They are factual, as the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement

28th November, 2022

EKOEXCELPupilsShineat25thAnnualJETS Competition

EKOEXCEL, the innovative digital initiative launched in 2019 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to transform primary schools, recorded another milestone recently when Lagos State pupils emerged second and third at the National Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) competition

The competition which was organized by the Department of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Education held at the National Mathematical Centre Abuja from the 30th September to November 6th, 2022, 3 pupils of the EKOEXCEL initiative overseen by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) shone brightly in the two categories they competed in. While John Daniel from St Francis Primary School, Maryland, came second in the quiz competition, two girls, Unique Emmanuel and Sarah Adeyemi of Monsuru Agoro Primary School, Mafoluku, took the third position in the project competition

Affirming the inclusive education pupils are receiving with EKOEXCEL, the two girls presented an air and temperature monitoring system they developed using an embedded approach

Speaking about their feat, Emmanuel and Adeyemi attributed it to the quality instruction they receive under EKOEXCEL, noting that it has tremendously improved their education. Emmanuel said, “EKOEXCEL has impacted more knowledge in my life. I have learned so many things through the programme, and I so much love the strive points

Learning through the EKOEXCEL programme has made me know faster and think faster It has also made me organized and punctual in school It allows for interaction whenever our teacher asks us to discuss it during a lesson ”

Adeyemi, on her part, commended the variety of textbooks they get under the scheme “This helps me to read widely and acquire more knowledge It also helped me to excel in my last JETS competition and brought victory to the state and the school EKOEXCEL motivates us to learn in class through songs and teaching.”

Daniel, who came second in the quiz competition and wants to be a biologist, also attributed his success to EKOEXCEL, saying, “my favourite thing about the EKOEXCEL programme is the striving pupils and the great work sections of the character board, which keeps every learner on their toes both morally and academically It has allowed me to keep adding to my ever-growing vocabulary with new words learned from the vocabulary section of most subjects ”

Commenting on Lagos’ excellent showing, LASUBEB Chair, Honourable Wahab Alawiye-King, said, “This achievement excites all of us about the EKOEXCEL programme, especially because of the participation by females in this cohort One of the core principles of EKOEXCEL is inclusion, and we are happy that our female pupils are proving their mettle on the national stage. Our pupils’ achievements also reassure us that we are on the right track, and we will not relent.”

Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer, recently hailed the methodology underpinning the EKOEXCEL program, for promoting equity, tackling learning poverty and assisting struggling students in its schools to learn effectively alongside their more gifted peers

The transformational intervention has also boosted uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum

Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across all 1,012 Lagos public primary schools Commendably, all the achievements are not just based on conjectures

They are factual, as the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement.

The assessment found that pupils have made outstanding progress across all grade levels since a baseline oral reading fluency evaluation in Lagos State public schools in 2019 (before the launch of EKOEXCEL) Pupils under the programme are now reading at an average of 311% more correct words per minute than their 2019 preEKOEXCEL counterparts, with the most significant gains among Primary 1 pupils

Former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission and a prominent science educator, Professor Peter Okebukola founded the Junior Engineers, Technicians and Scientists (JETS) Club in 1982. The club aims to expose young minds to science, engineering, and technology. Some of its objectives include preparing young minds for a high level of imagination and reasoning, teaching young minds to acquire valuable practical skills and equipping young minds with a broad range of engineering and science-related skills

Playingapivotalroleinfosteringinclusionfor theNigerianchild

21st November, 2022

Yesterday was World Children’s Day. Unlike the Children’s Day celebration observed in Nigeria on May 29, every year, World Children’s Day is marked every November 20 as an international observance that United Nations member countries use to promote and celebrate children’s rights Established by the UN in 1954, the theme of this year’s celebration, ‘Equality and Inclusion, for every child, is particularly instructive for Nigerian children who suffer discrimination and exclusion

UK-based NGO, Save the Children disclosed in its 2021 Global Childhood Report that Nigeria remains one of the most challenging places to be a child The country ranks below conflictridden Yemen and Syria due to poverty, lack of schools, insecurity and tradition

Nigeria’s number of out-of-school children is also disproportionately high, with child labour and begging rife. It’s common to see children who are supposed to be in school hawking sachet water, plantain chips, sausage and drinks in traffic across the country Some creatively try to make money by cleaning vehicles’ windscreens in traffic Others beg for alms alongside their parents, while some are apprentices with various artisans

If all these are not enough cause for worry about the plight of Nigerian children, UNESCO’s recent disclosure that the country now has 20 million out-of-school children has further underscored the problem’s magnitude It is why all hands have to be on deck to save Nigeria’s underserved and under-represented children, including the female ones who get the short end of the stick.

Nigerian female children face unprecedented challenges to their education, physical and mental wellness, and the protections needed for a life without violence. The odds are stacked against young girls, with 63 million between ages 6-15 out of school while 16 million aged 6-11 never enroll into school

While child marriage is rife in the north, some parents in the south believe educating female children is not worth the investment The Nigerian government and states should start paying more attention to the theme, ‘Equality and Inclusion for every child,’ to ensure a better future for the children and the country The rich and poor, girls and boys, must have equal access to education and a good life There must be no exclusion

Commendably, this is what the Lagos State government is doing with Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu at the helm. In his quest to give Lagos pupils education relevant to the 21st century and accessible to all, he inaugurated the EKOEXCEL programme under the supervision of the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) in 2019

Using innovative digital learning solutions with support from its ed-tech partner, New Globe, the initiative has led to a radical transformation of public primary schools in the state

EKOEXCEL has recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers.

The aggressive drive to take children of school age off the streets under regular mobilisations and the effective Project Zero Initiative is also helping to ensure education for all

Lagos has also prioritised girl-child education with various measures to ensure equitable learning like their male counterparts For instance, professional development and classroom management techniques focus on encouraging girls to be leaders in and out of the classroom

EKOECEL also ensures gender equality outside the school by encouraging girls to practice leadership skills through participation in various co-curricular activities like drama, chess, the arts, and physical education. They are encouraged to engage in sports like athletics, ball games, and taekwondo, which typically have less female participation

“One of the game-changers in the education development plan of our administration is the EKOEXCEL programme designed to support teachers to achieve better learning outcomes across all our public primary schools” Indeed, EKOEXCEL has recorded milestones that parents and teachers acknowledge

The initiator, Governor Sanwo-Olu, is also happy with the progress “The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the huge investment and affirmed the strategic interventions and impacts,” he said recently.

At the last National Common Entrance Examinations, a total number of seventy-one thousand, seven hundred and thirty-eight (71,738) pupils registered, with 34,030 being males and 37,708 being females

While the overall best student in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) scored 201 out of 210, Ajidagba Mariam Akanke, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind her

The third-best pupil from Lagos state public primary school was Deborah Ugbaha of St George’s Girls primary school who scored 196 out of 210 Even though Ugbaha came third, she was first in the In-school mock examinations, including End of Term One and Two Examinations the Term One Mock Examinations. Her outstanding performance also attests to the efficacy of EKOEXCEL’s methodology in fostering inclusion for every child

A compelling case of inclusion in Lagos State public primary schools is the case of a teen boy called Segun Borno, who was saved from the rigours of hawking perishable goods on the streets of Lagos by LASUBEB at one of its pupil enrollment road shows

The timid boy expressed interest in going to school and was immediately enrolled into Adeife Primary School, Bariga, at no cost Courtesy of Project Zero, a publicprivate partner initiative to fund education for out-of-school children also overseen by LASUBEB Everything Segun needed from sandals, school bag, uniforms and textbooks- were provided for him, to encourage him to remain in school and not be a financial burden to his parents

In a seminal study released earlier this year, 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer found that the methodology underpinning EKOEXCEL is having significant impacts. Professor Kremer detailed how pupils tutored with EKOEXCEL’s methodology gain almost an additional year of learning (0.89), learning in two years what their peers in traditional schools learn in nearly three.

The findings in Professor Kremer’s study put the learning gains in the top 1% of learning gains ever rigorously studied at scale in low and middle-income countries For early childhood development (ECD), the gains were even bigger

ECD pupils using the same methodology as EKOEXCEL gained almost an additional year and a half of learning

(1 48) They learned in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

The instructional method involving classroom cheers and other activities has also helped retain pupils in school as learning has become more fun, again, fostering inclusiveness in schools.

Ahead of the next World Children’s Day, parents, government and all others in the education value chain need to do more. They should do their best to ensure no child is left behind They are our future and deserve the best Thorpe, a child development and education consultant, writes from Lagos

literacy,numeracy,exploreinnovationtoend learningpoverty–NewGlobe

21st November, 2022

At the 28th Nigerian Economic Summit(#NES28) which held on the 14th & 15th of November, NewGlobe Nigeria, a global leader in learning and learning expert showcased already successful local education transformation at scale success stories, blue prints for eradicating learning poverty in Nigeria.

NES #28 convened national and global policymakers, business leaders, development partners, civil society leaders and scholars to articulate the country’s development imperatives that satisfy the need for economic security and sustainability, social justice, conscientious governance, political stability and environmental sustainability

#NES28 was attended by many Nigerian leaders including Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, the Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; other ministers as well as members of the private sector

Omowale David-Ashiru, Group Managing Director NewGlobe was a panelist on the interactive session tagged “Eradicating Learning Deprivation” alongside Ms Cristian Munduate UNICEF Country Representative, Mrs. Maryam Uwais (MFR), Special Adviser to the President on Social Investments, Ms Abisola Obasanya Director Arc Lights Foundation and Dr Hamid Bobboyi Executive Secretary Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC)

The session discussed solving Nigeria’s learning deprived children rate of 70% according to UNICEF

While speaking on the panel, Omowale noted that learning deprivation or learning poverty is a global problem exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic in African countries like Nigeria where the combination of out of school children and the poor rate of learning for those in school gravely threaten the potential of future economic growth and social development

Omowale went further to discuss potential solutions citing the June 2022 report by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF FCDO which shed light on proven solutions, prescribing focus areas for progress. It stressed the existence of solutions that can work at scale and within existing government systems to improve learning outcomes It states that commitment to learning programs by governments and the composition of the programs: with emphasis on teacher training, improved instruction through structured pedagogy and measurement of learning outcomes

According to Omowale, “there are existing examples of a holistic methodology already delivering value for Nigerian children in Edo, Lagos and Kwara States”

There are three distinct examples in Nigeria running statewide intricate public-school systems built upon four core aspects: A digital learning platform, adaptive instructional content, teacher training and coaching, and 360-degree support Within this holistic system are many sets of practices, such as school management, learning and development, instructional guidance, and feedback

Schools in this system are being transformed using technology and data, every school is transparent and accessible to its political leaders; decisions and policies are data based and children are learning at a speed not seen before in Nigeria.

This holistic learning methodology was the subject of a 2-year study led by 2019 Nobel Prize winning professor Michael Kremer The Kremer Study finds that NewGlobe methods deliver unequivocal major learning gains across every academic year in NewGlobe-supported schools, compared with other schools

NES28:Nigeriamustinvestinfoundational

These are particularly large in the “key grades” for Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN), primary classes One and Two Kremer and his co-authors found that students in early childhood years supported by NewGlobe received the equivalent of an additional year and a half of learning in two years.

Political leaders across the continent are coming to learn from Nigeria’s systems and then implementing them in their own countries. These examples are Edo State through the EdoBEST program covering > 1000 nursery, primary and Junior Secondary schools, Lagos State through the EKOEXCEL program covering >1000 Nursery and primary schools and most recently Kwara State through the KwaraLEARN program covering more than >1500 public schools at the full implementation of the program

Launched in 2018, the Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme is Edo State Government’s statewide education transformation program under Governor Godwin Obaseki It was launched in response to deficiencies identified in the basic education system in Edo State Transformation (EdoBEST) program in Nigeria. A study of EdoBEST indicated that pupils achieved the equivalent of 54% more schooling in English and 71% more schooling in math, learning in one term than what would have normally been learnt in 1 year

On a visit to Edo in October 2022, Martin De Simon an education specialist cum economist with the World Bank had this to say about EdoBEST “Definitely, many other states can learn from the experience of Edo and I do think that some of the interventions of EdoBEST are definitely significant for the national level

For example, you here have a strong focus on data and information systems and this is something that we are trying to support with the development of our Education Management Information System.

That is essential for any education system and for all 36 states at the national level So, there are certain things that we should be replicating and essentially scaled up and there are certain things that other states that are in similar situations can learn a lot of lessons from ”

In her closing remarks, David-Ashiru shared Kremer study learnings indicating Nigeria must invest beyond infrastructure alone, but also into foundational literacy and numeracy at basic education levels to eradicate learning poverty in Nigeria.

In closing #NES28, Professor Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, Chief of Staff to the President commended participants and endorsed the outcomes of the summit which include the need for restoration, increased funding, standardization and innovation in public education as a means to delivering economic stability for growth

This outcome among others will be contained in the NES28 “Green Book” a compendium of summit recommendations which will be disseminated to Federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) as well as other critical stakeholders to enable the implementation.

The” Eradicating Learning Deprivation” session at the #NES28 has delivered examples of an actionable framework for transformational leadership in education for Nigeria. We have a sustainable and inclusive solution to learning poverty, a necessary imperative for transforming Nigeria’s human capital into national productive and innovative capacity that creates a secure collective future of prosperity for all and sustained economic development Nigeria must as a matter of priority articulate a framework to harness foundational literacy and numeracy for 2023 and beyond

We have a chance to drive real change and deliver quality education for children in Nigeria

ShowcasingNigeria’sEducationTransformation SuccessesatInnovationAfrica2022

21st November, 2022

Major education projects, skills development and the upsurge in investments leveraging technology for education were the main focus of Africa’s number one high-level ministerial forum Innovation Africa from the 16th to 18th November 2022 in Lusaka Zambia.

This 10th anniversary edition of the summit was held under the patronage of the Government of the Republic of Zambia and led by the President, Mr. Hakainde Hichilema.

According to a statement Hundreds of Government Ministers and Officials are traveling across the continent to attend the summit including the following Nigerian officials Hon Goodluck Opiah, Minister of State for Education, Hon Dr Sen Adeleke Olorunnimbe Mamora, Minister of Science Technology and Innovation, Hon Dr Godwin E Amanke, Commissioner for Education, Cross River State and Hon Folashade Adefisayo, Commissioner for Education, Lagos State

The statement also noted that the highlevel Nigeria delegation along with counterparts from at least 24 other African countries engaged with other stakeholders on topics key to the education agenda of the summit.

The statement further noted that among the topics covered at Innovation Africa was digital transformation across Africa’s education sector, teacher training, digital strategies for school leaders, technology innovation and solutions for improving school connectivity, curriculum reforms

The statement further explained that the focus on education in this year’s event is pivotal to the learning poverty crisis currently faced in Africa and beyond, adding that a situation so serious it is a key focus of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, particularly in the area of foundational learning, main theme of The Education Summit (TES), “ahead of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2022 culminating in UNICEF leading a new Call To Action on education.”

The statement hinted that the Innovation Africa summit education rich agenda provides an opportunity for African countries to fulfill this call to action, which is key as the learning poverty has become even more pronounced in post pandemic Africa

According to the statement, “Case in point, our Nigerian delegation is attending this conference against a backdrop of 18 5million out of school children in Nigeria according to UNICEF, a negative growth of 76% from UNICEF’s 2021 estimate of 10 5million

The education situation is even more dire according to UNICEF education specialist Ahmed Sharouda because 70% of the children in school are not learning anything that will add value to them or the society creating a learning crisis in Nigeria

This statement was made by Sharouda in a presentation at a two-day media dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Child Rights, organized by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, in collaboration with UNICEF, in Kano, in April 2022.

““It states that these interventions must be implemented as part of a national learning recovery program that can also serve as a springboard for building more effective, equitable, and resilient education systems

Dr Benjamin Piper, Director of Global Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was quoted as saying “ we have solutions that can work at scale and in government systems

Committing to substantial learning recovery programs is a start, but the composition of those programs matter: measure learning outcomes, but also invest in improving instruction through structured pedagogy…”

“In Nigeria, based on these suggestions, there are bright glimmers of hope for effective scalable education transformation as seen in Lagos State’s EKOEXCEL, Edo State’s EdoBEST and Kwara’s KwaraLEARN, all with technical support from NewGlobe, Nigeria

“The Governments of Nigeria’s Lagos, Kwara and Edo States have all committed to driving up standards and outcomes across their entire education systems, with measured gains in literacy and numeracy in weeks Their programs are supported by data-driven technology solutions in partnership with NewGlobe, a social enterprise which supports national and state governments by creating powerful technology-enabled education systems

“The EKOEXCEL program in Lagos State covers half a million students and all pre-primary and public primary schools. A recent evaluation found that an average primary three EKOEXCEL pupil was now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average primary five pupil before the launch of the program in 2020, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

“The Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) in Edo State is another example of Nigerian education reform, which is being watched closely by other Government leaders ”

Edo State Governor Godwin Obaseki said: “We used standard tests to examine fluency, literacy and numerical skills at every age The outcomes, which are independently measured, showed that the children in EdoBEST now are learning at about 70% of the rate of their counterparts in Europe and Asia That same review of the average situation in Nigerian schools measured them at about 30 percent. So while the average Nigerian is 30 percent, Edo State is at 70%.”

The statement said EdoBEST is supported by the World Bank, the only subnational education program in Africa to be part of the World Bank’s Accelerator Program.

World Bank Education Director Jaime Saavedra said “We believe that Edo State can set a great example for other states in Nigeria and even other countries. That is why Edo is part of the World Bank/UNICEF Accelerator Program ”

The statement added that the KwaraLEARN programme is the third statewide Nigerian education reform programme being showcased at the Education World Forum

Kwara State Governor, Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq said: “This is in the realization that getting education right from the foundation will support our achievements in infrastructural development, agriculture, technology, and social services, and open up new vistas of opportunities that will promote the common good ”

Continuing, the statement said: “All three programmes empower every teacher with digital tools to deliver expertly planned lessons based on the local national curriculum.

“The combination of structured pedagogy with the gathering of real-time data for accountability and feedback, is one recommended by the World Bank, as governments everywhere deal with the impact of the covid-19 pandemic, and the school closures which accompanied it, on children’s education

“This holistic learning methodology was the subject of a 2-year study led by 2019 Nobel Prize winning professor Michael Kremer

The Kremer Study finds that NewGlobe methods deliver unequivocal major learning gains across every academic year in NewGlobe-supported schools, compared with other schools.

““Programming supported by NewGlobe in Nigeria has previously been studied by Oxford University and the Department for International Development and revealed equity of learning It contradicts decades of global education research that asserts family background matters more than the school a child attends, in relation to levels of learning Education scholars estimate education reforms resulting in a 25-point gain on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (0 25 standard deviation) will increase the GDP growth rate by 0 5% annually in middle-income countries Lagos, Edo and Kwara can expect the same outcome Hopefully the whole of Nigeria can too, if this is also implemented at Federal level ”

Intentionalandstrategic,Lagosdemonstrates resolvetotackleNigeria’sout-of-schoolchildren menace

16th November, 2022

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) recent statistics on Nigeria’s out-of-school children have further bolstered the dire state of education in the country Recently, the international body released figures that have further alarmed players in the education sector; parents, government, teachers and civil society organizations. The figures have led to recriminations about the party responsible for the disgrace

Disclosing that it used a new and improved methodology to arrive at the latest figures, UNESCO said Nigeria’s out-of-school number is no longer about 10 million but 20 million “The new estimates, published online by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report, show that sub-Saharan Africa remains the region with the most children and youth out of school with 98 million children and young people excluded from education It is also the only region where this number is increasing; out-of-school rates are falling more slowly than the growing school-age population.

“The region with the second highest out-of-school population is Central and Southern Asia with 85 million. The top three countries with the most children and youth excluded from education are India, Nigeria and Pakistan,” the report noted

It added that “important data gaps have been filled in countries that have large out-of-school numbers but where no administrative data of good quality has been available for over a decade, such as Nigeria, which has an estimated 20 2 million children and youth out of school, Ethiopia (10 5 million), the Democratic Republic of Congo (5 9 million) and Kenya (1 8 million) ”

While some education stakeholders have disputed the latest UNESCO figures, others, like Lagos State under Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, have continued working assiduously to reduce the number of out-of-school children. Since assuming office, Sanwo-Olu has consistently increased educational budgetary allocation and other sustainable interventions.

In 2022, he allocated the lion’s share of N171 6 billion to education and next year It will take the third largest share of the budget While 20 06 per cent (N339 billion) of the 2023 budget is for infrastructure and 11 29 per cent (N191 billion) for healthcare and the environment, 9 07 per cent (N153 5 billion) is for education

According to the Governor, the education allocation enables the government to consolidate the gains of previous investments in the sector Though the portion needs parity with UNESCO’s recommendation, it is way higher than other states It affirms the government’s commitment to education and reducing out-of-school children.

Apart from the huge commitment to education, he has empowered relevant bodies such as the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) to function optimally, with the award winning EKOEXCEL programme under its wing, a strategic technology-driven intervention that continues to record remarkable successes

LASUBEB under the stewardship of its Chairman, Honourable Wahab Alawiye-King, has continuously put measures in place to address the menace of out-of-school children with various awareness drives to encourage people to send their children to school and keep them there One of these includes Project Zero

The third phase commenced last month after a meeting between LASUBEB and other critical players in the education sector Commenting at the occasion, Alawiye-King, reassured that Project Zero would support every less privileged child willing to acquire basic education.

Mrs Sijuade Idowu-Tiamiyu, LASUBEB Board Member in charge of Social Mobilization and Project Zero, reiterated the same position at the phase three launch She disclosed that over 7,000 children have been kitted and enrolled back to school in the previous phases of Project Zero

She further disclosed that LASUBEB is set to enroll over 5,000 in this new phase of the Zero Tolerance to Out of School Children initiative Its focus is on voluntary enrolment with the government’s support

While Project Zero has been addressing the issue, on the one hand, EKOEXCEL, with its global edtech partner, NewGlobe, has also been actively working to bring pupils back to school. It ensures that learning is fun to retain the interest of those already in classes with a methodology that has attracted praise globally.

In a seminal study released earlier this year, 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer found that the EKOEXCEL methodology, also operational in Kenya, is having significant impacts Professor Kremer detailed how pupils tutored with EKOEXCEL’s methodology gain almost an additional year of learning (0 89), learning in two years what their peers in traditional schools learn in nearly three

The findings in Professor Kremer’s study put the learning gains in the top 1% of learning gains ever rigorously studied at scale in low and middleincome countries For early childhood development (ECD), the gains were even bigger. ECD pupils using the same methodology as EKOEXCEL gained almost an additional year and a half of learning (1.48). They learned in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years.

The instructional method involving classroom cheers and other activities has also helped retain pupils in school as learning has become more fun

A just concluded creative enrolment campaign by LASUBEB has further demonstrated its commitment to taking children of school age off the streets via technology

LASUBEB, in partnership with LAMATA and Chorus technology, ran a pupil enrollment drive Ad, illustrating the many gains of enrolling pupils in todays’ Lagos State public primary schools, showcasing a few of the programmes success stories, on the Lagos State Bus Rapid Transit, also known as B.R.T, in which all commuters on the bus are provided with free internet services to enjoy their travel time, in turn are to view a 60second video advertisement

The platform also provided a Call-ToAction link while commuters viewed the Ad, for pupil registration support and received many inquiries from interested parents and guardians

The well-received initiative was another out-of-the-box solution by the LASUBEB to reduce the number of outof-school children in the state after it had become a national embarrassment

There’s no gainsaying that the massive number of out-of-school children in Nigeria has become a social problem that needs urgent attention. The steps Lagos State is taking to address the issue are commendable.

On a national level, Hon Alawiye-King joined other stakeholders in the education sector to seek a stronger political will, adequate funding, improved strategies and consistency in tackling the out of school children (OOSC) menace in Nigeria.

The stakeholders made their position known at a National Conference on “Rethinking the Approaches to Addressing the Out-of-school Children Phenomenon in Nigeria” in Abuja, last October

Declaring the conference open, was minister of education, Adamu Adamu, who noted that Nigeria’s education is too strategic and too sensitive to be left in the hands of the government alone He further called for review of approaches to addressing the OOSC scourge

Adamu challenged all stakeholders to bring to bear greater courage to reposition basic education in Nigeria and challenged all stakeholders to bring to bear greater courage to reposition basic education in Nigeria

Also at the conference was Executive Secretary, Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr Hamid Bobboyi, who said that the various interventions of the government had helped in stabilizing the number of outof-school children

Bobboyi said that the conference was therefore geared towards rolling back to ensure that the number reduces on a yearly basis

He said that the UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report which provided new data for OOSC, rather than repudiating Nigeria’s data, served to validate most of the age categories provided by NPA

HourofCode:Lagospublicprimarypupilsthrilled withcodinglessons

25th October, 2022

EKOEXCEL, the innovative digital initiative launched by the Lagos State Government in 2019 to transform public primary schools with oversight from the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), participated in the Hour of Code lessons last Friday.

The Hour of Code, a one-hour introduction to computer science using fun tutorials, involved Primary 1 to 6 pupils The pupils learned about different ways to use the computer, the language the computers understand and HTML coding

The Hour of Code by Code org started as a one-hour introduction to computer science It was designed to demystify code and to show that anybody can learn the basics It also seeks to broaden participation in computer science Since its inception in 2013, it has reached millions of students in 180+ countries

During the hour-long event, pupils across Lagos schools participated in a lesson focused on computers and coding. They worked individually and in small groups to answer questions based on the lesson. After the Hour of Code, they received orange stickers with the inscription ‘I Did the Hour of Code!’

The pupils expressed joy after completing the exercise, saying they were delighted by the introduction to coding They also requested EKOEXCEL to continue teaching them coding while improving their knowledge of computer science. Pupils who did outstandingly well during the hour-long lesson were given sticker badges as a sign of completion and memorabilia.

Pascal Ejiofor, a Primary 5 pupil of St George’s Boys Nursery & Primary School said: “I like the lesson I learned different ways to use the computer, the beginning and ending letters of the computer and the various tasks that can be done with a computer I also learned a little bit about coding ” Primary 6 pupil of the same school, WisdonNdifreke, said: “I gained how to use a computer and I learned about the HTML and properties and values and how end and start looks like I like the lessons and I hope they will continue ”

The Headteacher, Mr Ajulo Peter Ajayi, expressed happiness that the school participated in this year’s edition and that more pupils are becoming familiar with a computer. “I love the hour of code, it was introduced by the EKOEXCEL programme which is known for its innovation The hour of code is very beneficial to the pupils”

At St George’s Girls Nursery & Primary School, the headteacher, Mrs Adebayo Sherifat Bolanle said the lessons are based on computers and I believe it is very good to catch them young and should continue to be added to the curriculum.

She added that the involvement of female pupils in the coding exercise is a boon for women because “there is gross under-representation of women in STEM With this, we can get them interested early and produce scientists and technologists ”

LASUBEBdrivesenrolmentinLagospublic schoolsfor2022/23academicsession

3rd October, 2022

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) has felicitated teachers on the 2022 Teachers’ Day and restated its commitment to further upskilling them through its innovative and transformational EKOEXCEL initiative

Since its launch in 2019 by Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL has upskilled over 18,000 headteachers and teachers from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula It has also captured over 14,000 teachers from 1,012 public primary schools and enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

Felicitating teachers on the 2022 Teachers’ Day themed ‘The transformation of education begins with teachers’, LASUBEB Chair, Wahab Alawiye-King, who has oversight over EKOEXCEL, lauded their invaluable role in educating Lagos pupils. He noted that during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Lagos teachers had demonstrated uncommon commitment to improving pupils with diligence

The LASUBEB Chair also hailed the excellent working relationship between teachers in public primary schools under the EKOEXCEL programme, their parent body, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Board, saying it has proved beneficial to pupils

“We can’t thank our teachers enough for their commitment and diligence Their cooperation has helped greatly in the remarkable strides we have recorded in primary education in Lagos. EKOEXCEL has an excellent relationship with them and the NUT. We all remain committed to giving our pupils quality education that will stand them in good stead in the 21st century,” Alawiye-King said.

The EKOEXCEL intervention has aided uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum. Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across Lagos’ public primary schools

EKOEXCEL recently partnered with the state chapter of the NUT for the maiden edition of its annual lecture and award series themed ‘Development Through Education-Learning and Livelihood’

Earlier, the NUT Chairman, Comrade Hassan Akintoye, had also attested to the transformational impacts of EKOEXCEL, noting, “Before the intervention, teaching was analogue It was based on the competence of individual teachers manning the classroom, but the level of competence varies from one individual to another. The teachers have a standardised digital instrument that leads them to perform their duties. Because of the analogue method, you couldn’t thoroughly ascertain the performance standard, but with the introduction of the highly digitised EKOEXCEL, we now have that standard

“Then, teaching and learning have become more pupil-centred As you are teaching, you are also learning The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance ”

Through the EKOEXCEL programme, teachers have become more enthusiastic and innovative with their teaching methods, applying themselves in ways that make pupils enjoy going to school with improved learning gains A fine example of such teachers is Mrs Fauziyah Shade Adegeye, also known as Teacher Shade, who became an internet sensation over a viral video of her motivating her pupils to preserve, work-hard and be resilient on the road to success.

In the 2-minutes video, Teacher Shade could be seen rallying the pupils, while they responded accordingly.

Speaking on how the EKOEXCEL programme helped improve her teaching methods in a recent interview, Adegeye said, “Teaching in Lagos State schools has really helped me as a professional teacher We have been exposed to a lot of professional training, seminars that I had no opportunity of experiencing as a private school teacher”

“When I joined the teaching service, what we used to do was manual writing of lesson notes which has been a tradition for years One of the problems EKOEXCEL has come to solve is the introduction of innovation, as teachers had prior been using materials that they had been using for the past 5 – 10 years, but EKOEXCEL has come to put a stop to that with tabs that are updated regularly, which has removed the stress of writing lesson notes” she added.

At this year’s Lagos State Annual Teachers’ Merits awards, Governor Sanwo-Olu presented 13 teachers and administrators with brand new SUVs and other prizes, rewarding them forexcellence and diligence in teaching Amongst the 13 were 4 public primary school teachers under the EKOEXCEL programme

Speaking at the awards ceremony, Governor Sanwo-Olu said it was in line with his administration’s commitment to using education as a weapon to develop Lagos and influence the teaching profession

Governor Sanwo-Olu said,

“one of the game-changers in the education development plan of our administration is the EKOEXCEL programme designed to support teachers to achieve better learning outcomes across all our public primary schools.

The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the huge investment and affirmed the strategic interventions and impacts.

“Through EKOEXCEL, thousands of teachers are being up-skilled through re-training and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms

This accentuates the importance of education to this administration and our continuous effort to strengthen the workforce’s capacity through employment opportunities for qualified teachers with a passion for teaching.

We have also instilled local and international training for our teachers, creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning” he said

LASUBEB also recently introduced the Instructional Leadership App that allows school leaders to monitor and respond to issues, including the percentage of lessons completed

With the App’s introduction, Headteachers can now see data about their school’s performance compared to the highest performing school and navigate to their own teachers’ performance details

The App also shows every scheduled lesson on a given day and indicates if it was completed. If it wasn’t, it lets the head teachers know the reason.

When queried, the App answers how much of a Lesson Plan was delivered and how many minutes the teacher spent on the lesson compared to how many minutes were scheduled. Based on the answer to these two questions, the App determines whether the lesson is completed or not.

To further improve the welfare of teachers in commemoration of the 2022 Teachers’ Day celebration, the federal government has commenced the implementation of the 65 years retirement age and 40 years of pensionable service for teachers, coming on the heels of the UN-led Transforming Education Summit (TES), which also sought to draw public attention to the support teachers needed to fully contribute to educational transformation

Nigeria@62:HopeforeducationwithSanwo-Olu’s EKOEXCEL

1st October, 2022

Before assuming office on May 29, 2019, Lagos State Governor, Mr Babajide Sanwo-Olu, stated his commitment to improving learning gains in public schools. He was also intentional about it because education underpins his dreams of further consolidating Lagos’ status as Nigeria and West Africa’s powerhouse

He launched the innovative and transformational EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education and Learning) program to provide quality education in the public system and upskill teachers by leveraging technology months after assuming office

Sanwo-Olu did not just stop at implementing plans to improve public primary schools He introduced Project Zero to tackle the menace of out-ofschool children, especially after the Covid-19 pandemic

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) puts the number of Nigeria’s out-of-school population between 10-20 million. Also, 70 per cent of primary school students cannot read or perform basic numeracy tasks at 10. There’s also an insufficient budgetary allocation to education in federal and state budgets and outdated teaching methods, hence the poor teaching and learning conditions across schools

At the last United Nations General Assembly (UNGA 77), President Muhammadu Buhari acknowledged the low adoption of digital learning He promised that the government would reach all learners wherever with quality, inclusive learning and skills development opportunities

62 years since the British left Nigeria, the military and civilian leaders have taken turns trying to improve upon what was left behind by the colonialists.

Governments have focused on the infrastructural development in schools and the introduction of school feeding schemes

With over 22 million pupils in 62,406 public primary schools, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, and about 10,015 public secondary schools, are these facilities even enough for a population of over 200 million?

Public universities are not exempted as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) is on another industrial strike Sadly, this latest ASUU strike has lasted seven months, with undergraduates idling away.

However, a recent study by Nobel Prizewinning economist Professor Michael Kremer has shown that all is not lost for Nigerian education.

It notes that there will be marked improvements if the teaching pedagogy adopted by SUBEB in Lagos (EKOEXCEL), Edo (EdoBEST) and Kwara (KwaraLEARN), in partnership with EdTech solution provider, NewGlobe are carefully adapted and administered

The Professor states that: “attending schools delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their systems ”

Kremer’s study suggests that if the methodology is replicated across public education systems, the learning gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher.

The study, released in June 2022, two years after Governor Babajide SanwoOlu inaugurated EKOEXCEL in all 1012 public primary schools, shows that the Governor made an excellent investment choice

The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation also confirmed that pupils are making substantial progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before its commencement

It showed that an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil is now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the EKOEXCEL programme The evaluation also affirmed that EKOEXCEL is improving learning over what existed before.

So far, over 18,000 headteachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula. Over 14,000 teachers from 1,012 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme

The education reform programme has also recorded remarkable gains in enhancing the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

Another confirmation of the efficacy of the EKOEXCEL methodology is the excellent performance of EKOEXCEL pupils in the National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for admission into the first year of Junior Secondary School of federal unity colleges. While the overall best student in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind.

Commenting on Nigeria’s 62nd independence and what it means for the future of pupils in public primary schools, Chairman of Lagos SUBEB, who has oversight functions of EKOEXCEL, Hon Wahab Alawiye King said,

“we have made appreciable progress that third parties have verified since we started EKOEXCEL in 2019. There are verifiable increased learning gains among our pupils and more upskilling among teachers.

So, I believe that if other states follow the examples of Lagos, we can fix the problems of primary education that international bodies continue to highlight. So, we congratulate all Nigerians as we mark our 62nd Independence anniversary and say we can solve all our education problems.”

If Lagos, Edo and Kwara can successfully adopt this innovative method, nothing stops the Federal government from doing so It is time Nigeria focused more on improving education and ensuring our children get the best as we are now in a knowledge economy

NigeriashowcaseseducationsolutionatUN summit

30th September, 2022

The NewGlobe has said Nigeria showcased its practical programmes which are transforming the education systems in the country during the UN Transforming Education summit

A statement made available to The PUNCH said the President, MajorGeneral Muhammadu Buhari retd addressed the ‘Transforming Education Summit’ on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly, during which he proclaimed Nigeria as a champion country, committed to greater inclusion and innovation for education in the country.

Also, it explained that three states in Nigeria; Edo, Lagos, and most recently Kwara had implemented wide-scale education transformation projects in partnership with NewGlobe

The statement added that the partnership between the State governments and NewGlobe strengthened education systems in Edo (EdoBEST), Lagos (EKOEXCEL) and Kwara (KwaraLEARN), saying it provided life-changing education solutions to children in hard-to-reach and urban communities

The statement maintained that these states had adopted the attainment of SDG-4 as a strategy for enshrining future economic prosperity, peace and stability.

"Nigeria is one of the countries present at the inaugural UN Transforming Education summit that can showcase practical programmes transforming education systems at Statewide level.

Three states in Nigeria, Edo, Lagos and most recently Kwara have implemented wide-scale education transformation projects in partnership with NewGlobe utilising a holistic methodology that delivers results.

The success of this model lies in the fact that it is holistic, there is not one single component that drives success but rather an intricate system built upon four core aspects: A digital learning platform, adaptive instructional content, training and coaching, and 360-degree support.

Within this holistic system are many sets of practices, such as school management, learning and development, instructional guidance, and feedback.

NewGlobe has established expectations for each of these practice sets and correspondingly continuously supports to ensure consistency and excellence.’’

It revealed that 2019 Nobel Prize Laureate, Prof Michael Kremer, said the study showed that attending schools delivering highly standardised education had the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale NewGlobe’s Group Managing Director, Omowale David Ashiru said, ‘‘Now is the time to identify and scale effective local solutions already being implemented, by visionary governments, in economies where it’s most needed We all know the scale of the crisis, now we need practical action, not talk, to solve it ’’

UNGA77:Buharimustfulfillpledgeon digitallearning–Expert

27th September 2022

An educational analyst, Misan Thorpe, has urged President Muhammad Buhari not to waste time in fulfilling the pledge made at the recently concluded United Nations General Assembly (UNGA77) on adoption of digital learning in Nigeria

At the three-day Transforming Education Summit organised on the sidelines of the 77th UNGA, President Buhari said that government would reach all learners wherever they are with quality, inclusive learning and skills development opportunities.

At the Thematic Session Four tagged ‘Digital Transformation of Education’, the president admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic catalysed the adoption of digital learning options across Nigeria and that going forward, his administration would further promote this with the National Digital Learning Policy as a guide The National Digital Learning Policy focuses on the long-term vision of inclusive digital transformation by increasing public provisioning for digital learning

According to Thorpe, “empirical studies have highlight the importance and benefits of digital learning; hence President Buhari’s declaration at UNGA 77 merely trumpets what the concerned stakeholders had been crying about.

“Unlike the traditional method of using blackboards and the classroom setting being teacher-centred, digital, as the name implies, means the use of digital boards; it is student-centred and encourages the use of computers, mobile devices and social media for learning

“Social media has become an essential element of the e-learning experience

Digital learning has been shown to, among others, create a more dynamic environment by turning traditionally dull subjects into interactive and fun activities, incorporating different learning styles to benefit all the students, improving collaboration, connecting students better and preparing children for the future. Besides, which child would prefer carrying a stack of notebooks and textbooks instead of a light iPad or device? Or who would want a weighty text instead of surfing an e-book?

“Preparing pupils for a digital future by introducing technology to them at an early age and meeting the United Nations’ sustainable development 2030 agenda on quality education was what made Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State to inaugurate EKOEXCEL, an educational intervention to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment in 2009

Thorpe said Sanwo-Olu’s initiative on education was most helpful in the state during the COVID-19 era, due to it impact on pupils preparing for their final examination and it also kept others fresh. He added that the impacts had been felt among pupils and teachers, with empirical studies affirming the gains

“Interestingly, the Edo State Government under Governor Obaseki had seen the benefits and adopted the same a year before Lagos did with EDOBEST, still with NewGlobe This ed-tech platform supports visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems as the technical partner

“As of March 2022, EdoBEST was available to 280,000 pupils and had expanded to 380 schools with 2,602 gadgets (teacher tablets and smartphones) handed over to teachers, headteachers, principals, quality assurance officers and learning development officers at a recent graduation ceremony. Over 28,000 Edo children now have access to the EdoBEST pedagogy, which has delivered improved learning experiences in classrooms across the state ”

The initiative, supported by the global ed-tech platform, NewGlobe as a technical partner, has proven to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers.”

Sanwo-Olu‘committedtoeducation’

19th September 2022

Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has assured the people that his administration is committed to ensuring out of school children get back to school

He said education is a part of society, and as every social institution, has witnessed changes over the years

The governor spoke at the Lagos State Education Summit, with the theme: ‘Creating a sustainable Fit-ForPurpose Education Model’

Panellists at the second session comprised Soji Megbowon, STEM teacher and co-founder of Teenprenuer Hub; Lanre Abolaji Oguntoye, science educator at

Greensprings School; Femisola Awosika, executive director in Robert & John Ltd.; Omowale David-Ashiru, managing director of New Globe Education Services; and Amabelle Nwakanma, director of Programme, at LEAP Africa

They discussed the topic: ‘Emerging Technologies in Education (Pre-tertiary education) Innocent Oaikhena, administrator at Corona Day Secondary School, moderated

Awosika hailed the government’s impressive policies following the 2019 adoption of EKOEXCEL, a transformational initiative for boosting learning and teaching using cuttingedge technology, in primary schools

Lagos State has wowed my organisation. The way they’ve embraced technology for child development deserves kudos. The way they’ve used technology to develop children in Lagos is commendable,”

Head of NewGlobe, an e-learning solution provider, technical partner to EKOEXCEL in Lagos, EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation) in Edo State and KwaraLEARN in Kwara State, among others, Mrs Omowale David-Ashiru, stressed the importance of teaching and learning solutions

EKOEXCELpupilsvowtodobetterthissession

16th September 2022

Pupils in Lagos State primary schools have pledged to improve on last session’s performance in their EKOEXCEL schools.

EKOEXCEL is an innovative digital initiative launched in 2019 to transform public schools with oversight from Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) The pupils, especially those just promoted to Primary Six, said they hope for excellent results in the final examination

“ I want to pass the National Common Entrance Examination we will write next year well… ” John Taiwo, a pupil of Hussey Military Yaba, Lagos Mainland, said.

A Primary 4 pupil of the school, Duru Eke, said he wants to do better and take advantage of the innovations introduced in the school by EKOEXCEL. “Our teachers have made learning more interesting for us since our school joined EKOEXCEL ”

children to do better a parent, Mrs Oyin Ojo, said

“ I was struggling with the huge fees for my three children in the private school before I moved them to EKOEXCEL school Now, they are receiving quality education without holes in my pockets I am happy with the improvements I saw last session, and I hope it will continue,” the business owner said

Last session, three pupils from the state excelled in National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) for admission into first year of Junior Secondary School of federal unity colleges.

Overall best pupil in NCEE conducted by National Examinations Council (NECO) scored 201 of 210, three pupils of Lagos primary schools were just five points behind

“I’m happy with how EKOEXCEL has improved my children, particularly the younger one who struggled at the beginning of the last session. By the time they vacated, we noticed an improvement in his literacy and numeracy skills, and we expect much more this session,”

We Will Work With Lagos Schools, 400,000 Pupils To Transform Education Sector – NewGlobes Boss

8th September 2022

Regional director of Communications, NewGlobe, Lanre Dairo has reiterated the importance of quality education and how it can help solve society’s problems, saying the e-learning solution provider works with 1011 Lagos schools, 400,000 pupils to transform the education sector in the state.

He said NewGlobe recently showcased its mission and impacts in Nigeria at the 14th Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) with the theme,’ Building a sustainable education ecosystem in Africa’ held in Lagos

Speaking at the event, organised by Edumark Consulting, seeks to transform Nigeria’s education sector through seminars, mentorship and showcasing edu-innovations Dairo, reiterated the importance of quality education and how it can help solve society’s problems.

Dairo, whose organisation is the technical partner to strategic transformational interventions, including EKOEXCEL in Lagos, EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation) in Edo State and KwaraLEARN in Kwara State, also stressed the importance of collaboration among players in the education sector.

He noted that “players in the education sector should collaborate more. Collaboration is vital We should not see ourselves as competitors but as one unit driving the growth of our sector and country ”

Highlighting the edutech platform’s methodology, Dairo disclosed that the company invests significantly in classroom management to improve learning outcomes

“New Globe continuously studies the science of learning, pedagogy. It’s a continuous process for us.

We have special schools where we observe how learning is going on. We ask ourselves two questions, how can we improve learning outcomes and make it more costeffective for the users without diluting the impact? Even in private schools, we should have a continuous iterative development goal in our classroom. We should continuously observe what works.”

InternationalLiteracyDay:Lagospromises improvedliteracyinpublicprimaryschools

8th September 2022

As the world marks International Literacy Day today, September 8, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) through its initiative, EKOEXCEL has promised to continue innovatively transforming primary schools while intensifying efforts to reduce the over two million out-of-school children in the state.

Executive Chairman of LASUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King said that having achieved remarkable successes since its inauguration in 2019, EKOEXCEL was poised to do more in line with the theme of the 2022 celebration, ‘Transforming Literacy Learning Spaces: Exploring Opportunities and Possibilities’ Alawiye-King, who noted that literacy enriches an individual’s life and creates opportunities to develop skills to provide for oneself, said this was why Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration had committed significant resources to its development

He said: “Governor Sanwo-Olu is a firm believer in the enriching power of education He knows it is what the 21st century Lagos needs in its development quest, hence the dedication to its improvement. This is why he inaugurated our transformational intervention, EKOEXCEL and has continued to back us to equip children who are our future.

“He knows that quality education for our children is crucial to making Lagos a 21st-century economy and that we must cast our nets far and wide to catch those not in school yet That way, they don’t become a problem for society

This informs our Project Zero for out-ofschool children, among other initiatives ” The LASUBEB chairman further expressed happiness that EKOEXCEL’s teaching and learning solutions positively impact pupils and teachers, improving learning outcomes

He disclosed that: “three pupils from the state excelled in the last National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE). While the overall best student in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind

“Apart from the trio, other EKOEXCEL pupils also had good scores Of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades Similarly, The EKOEXCEL 20202021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative’s commencement

"It further showed that an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil is now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the EKOEXCEL programme. On average, EKOEXCEL Primary 2-3 pupils are outperforming 13 other country contexts on the International Common Assessment of Numeracy (ICAN) while Primary 4-6 rank third out of 14 country contexts on the same numeracy assessment

Crucially, the evaluation affirms that EKOEXCEL is both improving learning over what existed before and is itself continuing to improve learning with the program, over time

“The study, which was conducted in July 2021 involved researchers administering two assessments to primary 1-6 pupils. “The tests were an oral reading fluency assessment (using a Primary 2 passage and a grade-level passage) and a foundational numeracy assessment (using the International Common Assessment of Numeracy, or ICAN). Four research questions guided the evaluation The first was: “The global pandemic led to learning loss nearly everywhere How did it affect EKOEXCEL pupils’ performance in literacy?

“The assessment found that since a baseline oral reading fluency evaluation in Lagos State public schools in 2019 (before the launch of EKOEXCEL), pupils have made outstanding progress across all grade levels 2021 pupils are reading an average of 311% more correct words per minute compared with their 2019 preEKOEXCEL counterparts, with the largest gains among Primary 1 pupils

“EKOEXCEL has also significantly increased pupils’ learning outcomes and drastically reduced the number of out-ofschool children in the state by enrolling them in schools through the ‘Leave No Child Behind’ policy.’

NewGlobePlansCollaborationwithGovernment onTechnology-enabledEducationSystems

“Even in private schools, we should have a continuous iterative development goal in our classroom We should continuously observe what works,” he said

The regional director also explained why his organisation is not working with private schools yet, saying,” we work at scale. In Lagos, we work with 1,011 schools and over 400,000 pupils.

“Unfortunately, there’s no private school that has that kind of scale We provide quality education at a low cost; to do that, we need that scale Unfortunately, the private sector in Nigeria doesn’t offer that kind of scale Still, we are exploring working with associations and advocacy groups ”

6th September 2022

NewGlobe, an e-learning platform, has expressed its preparedness to collaborate with visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems.

Speaking at the 14th Total School Support Seminar/Exhibition (TOSSE) with the theme, ‘Building a Sustainable Education Ecosystem in Africa’, organised by Edumark Consulting, in Lagos, the Regional Director of Communications, NewGlobe, Mr. Lanre Dairo, reiterated the importance of quality education and how it can help solve society’s problems.

According to him, “players in the education sector should collaborate more Collaboration is vital We should not see ourselves as competitors, but one unit driving the growth of our sector and country ”

Highlighting the edutech platform’s methodology, Dairo disclosed that the company invests significantly in classroom management to improve learning outcomes.

Earlier, the Lagos State Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, stressed the importance of expanding education and increasing access to underprivileged people

“In Lagos, we acknowledge the need to expand education to reach both rich and poor We recognise the contribution of private schools in this area In Lagos, we have more private schools than public schools. It is in the ratio of 22 to one. We need to work together. The government is responsible for providing education, but we must partner to increase access.”

The Chief Executive Officer, Edumark Consult, Mrs Yinka Ogunde appealed to educators to innovate and be creative “Every educator must remain creative because things are changing minute by minute in the education sector The mindset must change for us to see and understand that the future is no longer exactly how we perceive it today As such, all stakeholders in the education space must be ready to key in and embrace change,” she said

New Globe continuously study the science of learning and pedagogy. It’s a continuous process for us. We have special schools where we observe how learning is going on; and we ask ourselves two questions, how can we improve learning outcomes and make it more cost-effective for the users without diluting the impact?"

Educationsummit:Stakeholders

commendLagosforEKOEXCELinitiative

5th September 2022

Stakeholders in education have commended Lagos State Government for the introduction of EKOEXCEL, a transformational initiative to boost learning and teaching, using cuttingedge technology

Many of the stakeholders were among the panelists and participants at the 2022 Lagos State Education Summit, themed ‘Creating a sustainable Fit-For-Purpose Education Model’ held at Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, held between August 29 to 30.

The panelists includes:Soji Megbowon, STEM teacher and co-founder, Teenprenuer Hub; Lanre Abolaji Oguntoye, science educator, Greensprings School; Femisola Awosika, Executive Director, Robert & John Ltd ; Omowale David-Ashiru, MD, New Globe Education Services and Amabelle Nwakanma, Director of Programme, LEAP Africa They all expressed their opinions while speaking on a topic:

‘Emerging Technologies in Education’ (Pre-tertiary education), the session was moderated by Innocent Oaikhena, school administrator at Corona Day Secondary School The panelists assessed Lagos’s current state of play and areas for further improvement.

Commenting on Lagos’ adoption of technology in its primary schools, Awosika commended the state government, which introduced EKOEXCEL, a transformational initiative for boosting learning and teaching, using cutting-edge technology in 2019, for its impressive educational policies

“Lagos State has wowed my organization. The way they’ve embraced technology for child development deserves kudos The way they’ve used technology to develop the children in Lagos and how the leadership; directors, permanent secretary, commissioner and the governor approach it, is commendable

Mrs Omowale David-Ashiru, whose NewGlobe, an e-learning solution provider that has supported urgent education transformation for over a decade in Africa and Asia and supports visionary governments by creating robust technology-enabled education systems, went a step further than Awosika by stressing the importance of teaching and learning solutions

The head of NewGlobe, the technical partner to interventions, including EKOEXCEL in Lagos, EdoBEST (Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation) in Edo State and KwaraLEARN in Kwara State, also highlighted the pervasiveness of technology in all sectors, including education and the importance of data.

“Technology is no longer just an industry, it is in every industry. So, to that extent, technology is firmly in education. It fits in

We have worked together well. Whenever we come to them with technology and say this is what will have. Immediately, they’re embracing it. That’s a big leap. Working with other states and Lagos, they are certainly the best.”

teaching and learning, all aspects of things

“A speaker asked in the plenary session, does Lagos State know how many pupils they have today? I say yes, because of EKOEXCEL and technology He also said something very true; data Just look at the data; you can use that to make decisions You can use that to innovate, you can use that to empower teachers, you can do so much, and that’s through technology

Responding to a question from the moderator about the advantages of the emerging technologies and their impact on learning, David-Ashiru said it goes beyond being a consumer to the producer of the technology. She also reiterated the importance of literacy, saying only literate people can build their technologies and that increasing literacy is one of EKOEXCEL’s goals

“The people who design and produce those technologies, that’s what we should be looking at And why is that important? The truth is, if you’re not the one producing the technology, the technology will not be designed for you

Nigeria has the largest population in Africa Let me give a simple example If you say something to Siri, sometimes it says sorry I don’t understand what you’re saying because Nigerians did not design Siri with your accents If a Nigerian was the one that designed the technology, it would be easier Now, how do you do that? English English is the international language of programming. We’ve talked about coding; that’s fantastic. But English is the international language of programming. So, suppose you want to do it and don’t have foundational literacy. In that case, you won’t be able to read and learn to produce those technologies. That is why there has to be a lot of focus on our literacy So before we talk about using AI, virtual reality and the others, we need to start from the basics We need to do that so that we can build these technologies ”

She went on to say that the environment is crucial when discussing fit-for-purpose technology for pupils and teachers

“When you’re thinking about designing a curriculum for your young people, you have to ask yourself, what is their community asking of them at a particular time in their lives? Or their country asking them? What would their families ask them? What are the needs? Things are happening in the world, and we need people fit for purpose to help solve those challenges. So, innovation is also important.

“Then, technology is not just about getting tablets The environment is also important How many people have access to the internet? How many have access to electricity? In terms of bringing in technology, what Lagos has to do is invest in solutions that will meet the needs of the people Suppose we want to introduce technology to teachers Can we have the kind that will meet our needs in our environment?

Using New Globe and the type of tablets we use, they are designed to be functional You can get all the information that you need to teach You don’t need the internet to use it Only the headteacher needs to connect to the cloud and create a local area network No internet is required Data is inside the LAN; you get the data in real time. NewGlobe provides technology that doesn’t need to be charged daily; you can use it for two weeks. Our tech should always be appropriate.”

Earlier at the summit’s opening, Governor Sanwo-Olu assured his administration would commit more resources to ensure that all out-ofschool children in the State returned to school

He said, “Our administration is passionate about education, and we aim to bring transformation that will make our children better ambassadors of the State and country We’ll prepare them with the requisite skills for tomorrow’s jobs ”

Sanwo-Olu said the State’s new school model was an example of the desired Fit-For-Purpose Education System The governor also spoke on investments his administration had made in the sector, that through EKOEXCEL, 15,000 teachers have been upskilled.

One of the things technology has to do is render, and I would love to use Lagos as an example through EKOEXCEL. They have used technology to make education accessible to children everywhere. A child in the outskirts and the suburbs gets the same education quality through technology."

LASUBEBdrivesenrolmentinLagospublic schoolsfor2022/23academicsession

29th August 2022

LAGOS Ahead of the new school session commencing September 5, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB)

EKOEXCEL has asked parents and guardians to enrol their children in public primary schools for maximum learning gains.

EKOEXCEL is an educational intervention launched in 2019 by Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment It has since recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers

To ensure more Lagosians benefit from the intervention whilst reducing the number of out-of-school children in alignment with the government’s ‘Leave No Child Behind Policy’, EKOEXCEL has reiterated that its doors are wide open to receive fresh students.

We are ready to receive our returning and fresh pupils to public primary schools across the state. Parents and guardians should know they have nothing to fear by sending their wards to us. Empirical findings show the dramatic improvements in our schools, and we are not going to compromise on our standard,”

“Lagosians, please enrol your children into public primary schools. We have enough facilities for them as they learn in fun environments and engage in extracurricular activities, all overseen by well-motivated teachers Our innovative technology has vastly improved pupils-teachers interaction and ensured that learning extends well beyond the classrooms,” he said

LASUBEB organises public awareness campaigns to educate parents and guardians on enrolling their wards in public schools to secure their future and reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state every new session

The outreaches also attract street hawkers who request to be enrolled in school Last September, the transformational intervention rescued a 13-year-old petty trader, Segun Borno, from the streets during an enrollment drive. The timid, tired and mentally drained boy from the rigours of hawking approached Team EKOEXCEL and requested to be enrolled in school He has since been enrolled in school and will resume primary four at Ade Ife Nursery and Primary School, Bariga, this session

To further mitigate the alarmingly high rise of out-of-school children, the Lagos State administration established the Project Zero initiative under LASUBEB Despite the state’s high literacy rate (96 5 per cent, the second highest among states of the federation according to the National Bureau of Statistics), Lagos still has a high number of children of school-going age

who are not in school

These children have become of economic value to their parents and guardians, that it has become challenging to persuade them to enrol their children into school as well as keeping them in school

To further encourage parents to let their children go to school and mitigate child labour, last year, LASUBEB enlisted the support of famous Nollywood celebrities to educate parents and guardians on the tremendous gains of early child education and the positive impact of the EKOEXCEL programme The board will continue to adopt innovative and impactful ways to enrol children into state public primary schools

Parents recently lauded EKOEXCEL’s impacts, especially the excellent performance of Lagos pupils in the last National Common Entrance Exams. Three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind the overall best student, who scored 201 out of 210.

The LASUBEB chair affirmed Governor Sanwo-Olu’s commitment to education development and added that parents and guardians don’t have to become indebted to send their children to school as the public schools are free and with high standards.

Many of these are either on the streets soliciting for alms, working as bus conductors, load carriers, shoe shiners, hawkers or in shops learning one vocational trade or the other while their peers are in school learning.

However, the trio were not the only successful Lagos pupils; others also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency by more than 20% 53 EKOEXCEL pupils were tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, and 32 had excellent grades The results tracking showed that the 32 pupils from 22 schools surpassed the aspirational and proficient targets by 11 6% and 9 6%, respectively Also, the threshold targets for Partially and Below proficiency were exceeded by 8% and 9 3% margins, respectively

A Nobel laureate, Professor Michael Kremer, also commended the methodology underpinning the programme administered by technical partners, NewGlobe.

Executive Chairman of LASUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King said

LASUBEBintroducesinstructional leadershipapptoEKOEXCELprogramme

26th August 2022

To further deepen its impacts, improve processes and ensure that head teachers and teachers maintain the highest possible standards in giving their best to pupils, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) has introduced the Instructional Leadership App for the EKOEXCEL programme.

It would, among others, allows the school leaders to monitor and respond to issues, including the percentage of lessons completed The App also shows every scheduled lesson on a given day and indicates if it was completed If it wasn’t, it lets the head teachers know the reason

With the introduction of the App, headteachers can now see data about

their school’s performance compared to the highest performing school and navigate to their own teachers’ performance details

When queried, the App answers how much of a Lesson Plan was delivered as well as how many minutes did the teacher spend on the lesson compared to how many minutes were scheduled. Based on the answer to these two questions, the app determines whether the lesson is completed or not

During the unveiling of the App to LASUBEB by NewGlobes’ EKOEXCEL support team, Mrs Sonia Ivie, director in NewGlobe, informed the Board that the App was specifically built for headteachers and would help to capture

lessons completed by teachers each day and empower headteachers in taking ownership of their respective schools as well as putting teachers on their toes to improve the schools’ KPIs

Mrs. Enoh Ugbona, who led the EKOEXCEL support team, said the App wpuld be distributed to headteachers which will help to eliminate complacency among Teachers, as it would make monitoring of teachers be easier.

LASUBEB Chairman, Wahab AlawiyeKing, lauded the development of the App and expressed delight at the continuous evolution of the technology underpinning EKOEXCEL and the drive to close up learning gaps

Lagosgovt,firmpartnertopromoteliteracy

17th

August 2022

he Lagos State Government has partnered with Moralsgad and Triune Limited to improve students’ reading culture through literacy competitions and the creation of quality libraries for primary schools.

The Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Wahab AlawiyeKing, disclosed this on Friday during a press conference held in Ikoyi

Alawiye-King, who was represented by the Director of Co-Curriculum Development, LASUBEB, Mr Abiola Olugbenga, described the project as a means to upgrade the foundation of education in the state

The Chairman of Moralsgad and Triune Limited, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said, “I donated the initial money as a pioneer sponsor to produce some educational board games with strong moral content that can be used in schools to educate children and also in churches, mosques and places where ethical learning is important But we have decided to take it a notch further to promote literacy in the state through the creation of literacy competition and quality libraries for primary schools and we are open to partnerships from organisations and corporate bodies ”

We have 1,016 public primary schools in Lagos State and taking care of them is not an easy task, but thanks to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, we are now utilising EkoExcel which involves the use of tablets to teach the children and teachers are also trained to deliver on quality education."

EKOEXCEL,NUTpartnertoenhancestandard

17th August 2022

Demonstrating commitment to the upskilling of teachers and the growth of primary education, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL has partnered the state chapter of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) for the maiden edition of its lecture and award series.

The event, with the theme: ‘’Development Through EducationLearning and Livelihood,’’ was held last week with teachers and public officials in attendance

Lagos NUT Chairman Hassan Akintoye explained that the lecture was to advance the cause of education and promote stakeholders’ engagement and commitment to its growth. He added that the theme was chosen to allow stakeholders to deliberate on arresting the falling standard of education and knowledge gaps and promote industry skill for a sustainable educational system.

LASUBEB’s Executive Chairman Wahab Alawiye-King commended the initiative, saying it “critically considered and reviewed matters of public importance and honoured those that have contributed to the development of education ”

Earlier, Chairman of Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters Opeyemi Bamidele said effective linkage between the education sector and industries should be promoted to bridge the knowledge gap between research and development

Bamidele also said no nation could develop beyond the capacity of its educational institutions and system

He acknowledged teachers’ efforts, asking them to remain steadfast, dedicated and committed contributors to nation-building.

Commissioner for Education Mrs Folasade Adefisayo commended teachers, noting that their mandate was to increase access and improve learning outcomes in primary and secondary schools She promised that teachers would continue to make learning conducive by renovating schools and exposing teachers to skills to enhance effective performance

Months before the lecture, NUT Chairman Akintoye requested EKOEXCEL to partner NUT in its planning and execution

Eighty per cent of parents say children have improved since the start of EKOEXCEL Initiative, which has to improve numeracy and literacy in pupils."

ExcitingtimesforeducationinLagos

Exciting times are here for the education sector in Lagos State The huge investments of the government in the sector are beginning to yield concrete dividends

The performance of the State’s students in WASSCE/GCE has significantly improved from 38 79% in 2020 to over 81% in 2021 with a minimum of five credits including Mathematics and English.

In the last three years, the annual budget for the State Ministry of Education is bigger than the total budget of some States in the country

The education Ministry got N133 5 billion in 2020, N146 9 billion in 2021 and N173 5 billion in 2022

According to the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, about N23 62 billion had been spent on infrastructure development of public schools in the last three years Critical investment in the sector is aimed at ensuring students in the public schools receive quality education in a conducive and friendly environment

In order to sustain the pace of development in the sector, the government recently unveiled a set of technologydriven modular learning spaces, which introduces an innovation to the design of a modern classroom

The nine-classroom block was built to replace decrepit concrete structures in Vetland Junior Grammar School, a government-owned Model College in Agege Local Government Area

The interactive modular classrooms were improvised, using standardised reusable freight compartments, known as container. Each of the classroom compartment is adequately insulated to give comfort and create a conducive ambience for hybrid learning for students

The project is completed with three laboratories and four staff rooms – all made from container There are also recreational facilities, including a five-aside football pitch, a multi-purpose-built court, which can be used for a variety of games, such as volleyball, long tennis, badminton, and basketball

The classrooms and their ancillary facilities have their dedicated energy source, off grid; they are powered by solar panels, which guarantee constant power supply to enable teaching and learning

The IT-enabled modular interactive classrooms would make a lasting impact in the State’s effort to make basic education accessible

The containerised structures were raised on high-density rafts carefully calculated to hold both live and dead loads The floors were made of terrazzo material for durability, while 30 convenience facilities were fitted in the academic area with two composite water-free toilet built for visitors

The rebuilt school also has a water system fitted with a filtration compartment to deliver potable water to the pupils.

"This is the future leaning in public basic education in Nigeria and Africa. The development of containerised modular classrooms is a welcome milestone on our journey towards ensuring that no child is left behind in Lagos."

“Our goal, as a Government, is to build learning spaces of the future, thereby bequeathing public schools that are driven by cutting-edge technology and that can compete favourably with the best schools anywhere in the world ” Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu stated at the unveiling of the modern classrooms

august 2022

6th

Chairman of the school’s ParentTeacher Association (PTA), Barr Omoyele Akintayo, said with the feat, the State government is championing a new course of transformation in the country.

He said: “I cannot hide my feelings and emotions today. I am highly delighted. There is no amount of encomiums that can be adequately showered on Governor Sanwo-Olu that will be enough to show our appreciation for this world-class innovation”

Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, described the feat as another promise kept by the Governor, noting that the SanwoOlu administration’s education reforms had transformed public schools She said the Model College deserved the gesture, given the academic excellence it had turned out in national examinations over the last three years

“This is an iconic building that will last for ages and transit our children into the 21st century-based knowledge,” the Commissioner said.

The upgrade of the Model College is part of the strategic interventions initiated in the public school system, which have led to the rehabilitation and modernisation of over 200 public schools So far, the Sanwo-Olu administration has constructed more than 800 new classroom blocks as well as supplied about 150,000 units of furniture in the State’s public schools The intervention has scaled up output in teaching and raised academic excellence

The government has also improved security in public schools by installing watchtowers, perimeter fences, panic bells and floodlights It has equally prioritised the comfort of boarding students through the provision of beddings and other necessary items.

Development in the sector is not just about developing infrastructure As the beneficiaries can attest to, the welfare and training of teaching and administrative staff in the public school have received significant attention as well.

The slogan, “Leave No Child Behind” became prominent with the advent of the Eko-Excel initiative, a transformation enterprise of the incumbent administration Eko-Excel, an acronym for “Excellence in Child Education and Learning”, which was rolled out in phases, is planned to help 14,000 Head-Teachers and students embrace digital teaching, using tablets and updated curriculum in line with the Sustainable Development Goal 4

Over 12,000 public primary school teachers have been trained under the pilot scheme, with each of them given a tablet to work with The programme has equipped teachers with skills to deliver value, empower pupils with requisite knowledge to improve education and help in sustaining the State’s image as a leading knowledge driven City-State

Apart from its technological advantage, the initiative provides a multi-dimensional approach to learning, which includes character moulding of pupils from their formative stage. Thus, Character Boards are placed in all public schools to display names of well-behaved and outstanding pupils to engender progressive competition

Recently, 13 outstanding teachers, selected across the State’s six Education Districts were presented vehicles for their passion and deployment of modern techniques to teach pupils The recipients were part of the finalists nominated for the Year 2021 Teachers’ Merit Award by the Screening Committee led by the chairperson of Association of Private Educators in Nigeria, Mrs Lai Koiki

In another development, pioneer students of the new comprehensive school model have received e-Learning Mobile Tablets.

The initiative, which has thus far benefitted 750 students from 12 pilot schools, is to enhance the learning of various vocational skills by beneficiaries.

Emphasising the government’s investment and commitment to the success of the new fit-for-purpose and skill-based school model, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, noted that each teacher and school administrator also received mobile devices that have been preloaded with curriculum content relevant

While stating that the distribution of the mobile devices cut across comprehensive schools within the six Education Districts, Adefisayo added that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s vision is to ensure that recipients of the new school model are equipped with relevant technology/tools and tutorials on self-reliance and adequate skills up to mastery level

The technical consulting team and owners of the SuccessTab brand, led by Oluwakoyejo Oluwatosin of Chronicle Software, said the customised mobile tablets are the first government-backed educational intervention programme in the country where all students and teachers use devices primarily in learning delivery The Lagos State Comprehensive School Programme commenced early this year with 12 pilot schools The Government has also declared its intention to increase the number of schools to 50 schools before the end of year 2022

Comprehensive School students have the option of learning skills up to mastery level in the various subject categories including Agriculture, Tech and Digital Skills, Beauty and Events, Building & Construction, Media and Entertainment, Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing & Sales and Digital Literacy.

EKOEXCEL:ParentshailSanwo-Oluforexcellent performanceofpupilsincommonentrance

2nd August 2022

Parents have commended the Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, for the excellent impact of EKOEXCEL, the innovative digital initiative launched by the state government in 2019 to transform public primary schools

The parents expressed their satisfaction at a Parents-Teacher conference, held on recently, in all 1011 public primary schools in Lagos, where they critically assessed activities of the just concluded 2021/2022 academic session

They commended the brilliant showing of three pupils from the state in the National Common Entrance Examination, NCEE, and other benefits of the intervention managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, LASUBEB, Lagos State registered the highest number of candidates with 19,518 out of the 71,518 pupils that sat for the exam for admission into federal unity colleges.

While the overall best student in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council, NECO, scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind Ayomide Daniel Ajayi of Hussey Military Primary School, Yaba, scored 198; Damilola Basit Araba of the same school had 197, and Deborah Ugbaha of St Georges Girls school, Ikoyi, scored 196 Other pupils also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency by more than 20 per cent of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades

Commenting on excellent NCEE performances, parents, challenged those promoted to primary six to emulate the celebrated pupils or even do better next year.

I’m happy with how EKOEXCEL has improved my son. I didn’t expect him to do so well in the exam. The extra hours and curricular activities paid dividends. I hope his junior sister will do better by 2024 when she writes the exam.”

Others, including Alhaji Abubakar, a bureau de change operator, Mohammed Ahmed of the Nigerian Ports Authority, businesswoman Oluwashinaayomi Ada and Nwunu Chioma, also acknowledged their children’s academic improvements

Abubakar said, “My three children in primary four, two and kindergarten are doing well I go to their school to check up with their teachers and am happy with their performance ” Ahmed said, that “my daughter, Aminat, joined in primary one and is now in two She has been doing okay since she joined the school and with the records I have gone through, I see a lot of improvements ”

Ada said, “My child is in primary four, and since the EKOEXCEL program started, she can read, write, and pronounce words that were difficult for her She can form words and sentences ”

Chioma affirmed, “since EKOEXCEL started, I have seen improvements in my three children ”

The three outstanding Lagos pupils in the NCEE also explained how EKOEXCEL’s innovative methodology boosted them.

Damilola Araba said, “EKOEXCEL made it easier for our teachers to teach us, and it has impacted us with modern technology. I’ll advise those getting promotion to primary 6 to study hard and learn to be focussed ”

Ayomide Ajayi enthused, “EKOEXCEL has motivated me to come to school and enabled our teachers to teach us in a new way ”

Deborah Ugbaha noted, “EKOEXCEL makes it easier for our teachers to explain difficult topics to us and improves our understanding I will miss the teaching method ”

Apart from testimonials from parents and pupils, a study, the ‘EKOEXCEL Nigeria 2021-2022 TS Satisfaction Survey Report’, also affirmed that quality education remains a significant driver of the initiative

The EKOEXCEL Insight Team analysed key findings on parents’ perceptions of the programme and found that though the Net Promoter Scores (NPS) fell to 29 from 32 in the previous term, parents still trust the intervention’s quality to recommend it to others 491 of 500 parents said they would keep their child at EKOEXCEL school next term Other parents were also impressed by factors including Good pupil behaviour, academic skills/performance (such as strong English, math abilities), suitable teaching method/pedagogy–and free textbooks/learning materials.

The survey also found that most parents (470 of 500) are either satisfied or delighted with the EKOEXCEL programme 479 of 500 attested to seeing improvement in their child’s quality of education due to the programme Some of the areas parents have seen some improvements are; General – 53 4%, Does homework independently – 35%, Reading/literacy – 33%, Writing – 30 6%, English language skills – 26 4%, Mathematics – 26 4%, Spelling – 23 2% etc

Nobel laureate, Professor Michael Kremer, recently appraised the methodology underpinning the EKOEXCEL program, administered by the program’s technical partners, NewGlobe.

The Nobel Prize-winning economist’s detailed observations on how pupils tutored with the methodology used in EKOEXCEL, gain almost an additional year of learning (0 89) under the NewGlobe integrated methodology, learning in two years what their peers in other traditional schools learn in nearly three

For early childhood development (ECD), the gains were even bigger ECD pupils using the same methodology as EKOEXCEL gained almost an additional year and half of learning (1 48), learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years The findings in the study put the learning gains in the top 1% of learning gains ever rigorously studied at scale in low and middleincome countries.

LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELtriumphsat8thTitansofTechAwards

25th July 2022

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB)

EKOEXCEL shone brightly at the 18th Annual Titans of Tech Awards held weekend in Lagos.

The intervention launched in 2019 by Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment, was honoured with the Most Innovative Digital Learning Platform of the Year Award at the major industry event.

Former Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and Chairman, MTN Nigeria, Dr Ernest Ndukwe, chaired this year’s The Titans of Tech Awards, which celebrates trailblazing innovators, individuals, organisations, governments and individuals who use ICT to improve lives in society It also recognises excellence and steadfast commitment to deploying ICT for positive interventions in Nigeria

In awarding the Most Innovative Digital Learning Platform of the Year Prize to EKOEXCEL, the organisers described it as the foremost Nigerian digital platform digitising education for national development and preparing pupils for the 21st century

Commenting on the award he personally received, LASUBEB’s Executive Chairman, Wahab AlawiyeKing expressed delight at the honour, saying the recognition was humbling and attested to Governor Sanwo-Olu’s foresight and commitment to improving primary education through technology

“We are dedicating this award to all the pupils, the teachers, and head teachers for their support. I equally want to appreciate and commend our technical partner, NewGlobe, for your wonderful support. We appreciate it,” he said.

Speaking earlier while welcoming guests, the Convener of the Titans of Tech Awards, Don Pedro Aganbi, said it is a platform dedicated to recognising the achievements, successes, and triumphs of key stakeholders across the entire digital technology spectrum He explained that the awards are a great way to encourage good behaviour, teach competitive spirit and spur the industry to greater heights

Since its launch, EKOEXCEL has continued to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers

Over 14,000 teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme. It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

Evidence of the programmes’ efficacy was highlighted at the recent National Common Entrance Exams where three EKOEXCEL pupils performed excellently The three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind the overall best student who scored 201 out of 210

The results tracking showed that the 32 pupils from 22 schools surpassed the aspirational and proficient targets by 11.6% and 9.6%, respectively. Also, the threshold targets for Partially and Below proficiency were exceeded by 8% and 9 3% margins, respectively

“I am humbled and honoured to receive this award on behalf of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu. This shows that his investment in public education is yielding positive results.”

A 46-year-old primary one teacher at Army Barracks Primary School, Ikeja, Lagos, Mrs Oluwasanjo Elizabeth Adewunmi, has emerged winner of second Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL Excellence Recognition Scheme, tagged, ‘Meet EKOEXCEL’.

It is a quarterly reward initiative that showcases pupil and teacher excellence using the pupil’s grade levels and teacher performances

Adewunmi, who joined the teaching service as an Assistant Teacher in 2006, was adjudged winner, based on her outstanding performance, particularly, her devotion to teaching and improving her pupils

She has proven herself to be a model teacher, who goes the extra mile for her pupils During her free time, Adewunmi reviews topics taught in every subject, the learning objectives and pupils’ ability to understand them

Adewunmi, born on February 29, 1976, also has a unique teaching method. Most times, she dances while teaching to make the learning atmosphere more enjoyable. When her pupils actively participate, she ensures the class cheer top performers. She encourages the pupils that are falling behind to work harder

Adewunmi also emphasises that hard work pays. She also prepares for the next day by previewing the next day’s schedule on her tablet.

The mother of one began her primary school education at Rabiatu Thompson Primary School, Shitta, Surulere She proceeded to Community High School, Adeniran Ogunsanya and obtained a Diploma in Educational Management from the University of Ibadan

Adewunmi was deployed to Lagos State Model Nursery and Primary School, Ikeja GRA as an assistant teacher for two years before gaining a Bachelor of Art in Education from the University of Lagos

She received EKOEXCEL training in late 2020 and was transferred to her current school, Army Barracks Primary School, implementing the transformational initiative Commenting on her emergence, she described it as innovative and beneficial.

“The programme is the best solution the Lagos State government could have ever introduced into primary education. It maximises time and helps to make good use of a school day with the pupils in the teaching and learning. It also enhances teaching and learning. It is very detailed and encourages the pupils to be hardworking.

Since its launch in 2019 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the programme has positively impacted pupils and teachers in the state’s public schools.

Lagos Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Chair, Comrade Akintoye Hassan, recently hailed the impact of the intervention, which has received global and national recognition

He said: “Before the intervention, teaching was analogue It was based on the competence of individual teachers manning the classroom, but the level of competence varies from one individual to another Because of the analogue method, you couldn’t thoroughly ascertain the performance standard With the introduction of the highly digitised programme, we now have that standard The teachers have a standardised digital instrument that leads them in the performance of their duties

“Then, teaching before the intervention was more teacher-centred. But with the programme, there is a standardised instrument guiding a teacher in Alimosho and another in Ibeju lekki or teachers within the same local government, but at different schools The teacher determines how they go about the teaching, but they sometimes unconsciously forget that their teaching is about pupils in the classroom because a framework is absent

“It has changed as teaching and learning have become more pupil-centred As you are teaching, you are also learning The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance ”

21st July 2022

She acknowledged her school’s assigned supervisor, Mr Ezekiel, for ensuring that teachers were on track and celebrated her fellow teachers.

The fact that pupils know how to spell and pronounce numerous words in primary one is a wonderful and amazing experience.”

46-year-oldteacherwins‘MeetEKOEXCELRecognition’award

UNESCOSummit–EducationMethodologypraisedbyNobel PrizeWinnerandutilizedinEdo,Lagos&Kwarashowcased

In recognition of its transformational impacts, including upskilling teachers and improving learning outcomes among pupils through the deployment of technology, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL will on Friday, July 22, receive the Most Innovative Digital Learning Platform of the Year Award at the 18th Titans of Tech Awards

The Titans of Tech Awards celebrates trailblazing innovators, individuals, organisations, governments and individuals who use ICT to improve lives in society. It also recognizes excellence and steadfast commitment to deploying ICT for positive interventions in Nigeria. The organisers stated that EKOEXCEL would be recognised for its “efforts and excellent service in digitizing education for national development ”

The Award jury comprising top technology editors found that EKOEXCEL is preparing pupils for the 21st century through appropriate edutech platforms

The jury noted: “In furtherance of efforts to build a truly digital economy and maintain its position as a leading market in Africa, is persistent in making critical investments in basic education required to produce the quality workforce needed for the future

“The EKOEXCEL initiative is at the heart of the fresh project to introduce new training models to support and empower teachers, who are at the heart of every successful learning experience. The Initiative, a government-designed, funded and led programme introduced in all public primary schools in Lagos State, is already through curriculum development, changing the learning outcomes in schools across the state With EKOEXCEL, Lagos is poised for the digital future ”

The 2022 awards holding at Oriental Hotel, Victoria Island, Lagos, has ‘Leveraging Right Policies and Technologies in Taming Insecurity and Cyber-Threats’ as its theme The Pan African Digital Initiative Summit and Expo will precede it.

Since its launch in 2019 by Governor BabajideSanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL has continued to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers Over 14,000 teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

Recently, a group of US academics led by Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer also hailed the efficacy of the methodology of its technical partner, NewGlobe. Kremer and his co-authors, including Guthrie Gray-Lobe, Anthony Keats, Isaac Mbiti and Owen Ozier, critically examined the benefits to student outcomes of a structured and standardized approach to teaching and learning in Kenya

Its findings showed that primary students through Grade 8 gained almost an additional year of learning (0 89) under the NewGlobe integrated methodology, learning in two years what their peers learn in nearly three For early childhood school students, the gains are even more significant Those students supported by NewGlobe gained almost an additional year and half of learning, learning in two years

what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

Kremer said, “The study finds that if replicated at scale across public education systems, the gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher. The study finds that after two years, primary school students in NewGlobe’s Kenya program are nearly a whole additional year ahead of children taught using traditional methods

"For early childhood development –typically three and five-year-olds –children gain nearly an additional year and half of the learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years ”

“This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore the incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their systems ”

The same methodology adopted by LASUBEB is achieving a similar result as the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance

The recognition from the Titans of Tech Awards will be the latest for EKOEXCEL as four of its teachers received brand new SUVs and other prizes at the 2021 Annual Teachers’ Merit Award to reward excellence and diligence in teaching organized by the Lagos State Government

18th July 2022

EKOEXCELteacherswinbigat2021teachers’meritaward

"This accentuates the importance of education to this administration and our continuous effort to strengthen the workforce’s capacity through employment opportunities for qualified teachers with a passion for teaching We have also instilled local and international training for our teachers, creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning,”

The governor further urged teachers not to see the award as a contest but as a motivation to continue to do their best, knowing that such commitment will one day be rewarded

10th July 2022

Four teachers from the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB’s) Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) have won brand new SUV cars and other prizes in the state’s 2021 teachers’ award

The teachers received awards for their credible performances and as part of the Lagos State government’s commitment to improving teachers’ skills for quality delivery through the various programmes of LASUBEB such as the EKOEXCEL.

The four winners were among the 13 school teachers and administrators recognised by Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the executive governor of Lagos State at the 2021 annual teachers’ merit award at the Sports Pavilion, Lagos House, Ikeja to reward excellence and diligence in teaching on Wednesday, June 29, 2022

Fausat Adegeye, a teacher at the Ebenezer African Church Primary School, popularly known as ‘Teacher Sade’ on Tik-Tok and other social media platforms where she teaches the English Language after school hours, and three other EKOEXCEL teachers were honoured at the event

The others were Michael Ayoola, a teacher at the AUD Society Primary School II, Omolayo Fadayomi, a teacher at the Karaole Primary School Ifako, and Olusegun Muftau, a teacher at the Lasa United Nursery and Primary School in Ibeshe town

Sanwo-Olu speaking at the event said it was in line with his administration’s commitment to using education as a weapon to develop Lagos and influence the teaching profession. He expressed happiness with EKOEXCEL’s strides, describing it as a game-changer in the government’s quest to improve learning outcomes by upskilling teachers.

“One of the game-changers in the education development plan of our administration is the EKOEXCEL programme designed to support teachers to achieve better learning outcomes across all our public primary schools The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the huge investment and affirmed the strategic interventions and impacts

“Through EKOEXCEL, thousands of teachers are being up-skilled through re-training and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms

“I advise that our teachers continue to uphold the ethics of the teaching profession and display an uncommon sense of responsibility and greater commitment to duty,” he said

Since its launch in 2019 by Sanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL has continued to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers

Over 14,000 teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools.

The intervention has also aided uniformity, and strict adherence to the curriculum as teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across Lagos’ public primary schools

UNESCOSummit–EducationMethodology praisedbyNobelPrize

WinnerandutilizedinEdo, Lagos&Kwarashowcased

4th July 2022

As part of the “Our Common” Agenda initiative, the UN SecretaryGeneral is convening a Transforming Education Summit (TES) for September 2022 in New York.

This summit seeks to mobilise political ambition, action, solutions and solidarity to transform education Ahead of the main summit , the Transforming Education Pre‐Summit was organised in Paris last week from 28‐30 June 2022.

It included technical meetings on Thematic Action Tracks and engagements with key stakeholders.

This High‐level segment consisting of Ministerial and Stakeholder engagement had in attendance from Nigeria the Minister of Education Adamu Adamu and the Director for Basic Education, Dr Folake Olatunji Davis

This high level delegation from Nigeria depicts how important the education transformation agenda is for Nigeria against the backdrop of 18 5million out of school children in Nigeria according to UNICEF, a negative growth of 76% from UNICEF’s 2021 estimate of 10 5million

This statement was made by Sharouda in a presentation at a two‐day media dialogue on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Child Rights, organised by the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture, in collaboration with UNICEF, in Kano, in April 2022

Nigeria is not alone in this situation, as a result of the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history, learning poverty has increased by a third in low‐ and middle‐income countries, with an estimated 70% of 10‐year‐olds unable to understand a simple written text, according to a new report published by the World Bank, UNESCO, UNICEF, UK government Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), USAID, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This rate was 57% before the pandemic, but now the learning crisis has deepened. This generation of students now risks losing $21 trillion in potential lifetime earnings in present value, or the equivalent of 17% of today’s global GDP, up from the $17 trillion estimated in 2021

This report, The State of Global Learning Poverty: 2022 Update also tasks countries on the need to concentrate their efforts on the most cost‐effective approaches to tackle learning poverty It states that these interventions must be implemented as part of a national learning recovery program that can also serve as a springboard for building more effective, equitable, and resilient education systems.

Dr Benjamin Piper, Director of Global Education, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was quoted as saying “ we have solutions that can work at scale and in government systems.

In Nigeria, based on these suggestions, there are bright glimmers of hope for effective scalable education transformation as seen in Lagos State’s EKOEXCEL, Edo State’s EdoBEST and Kwara’s KwaraLEARN, all with technical support from NewGlobe, Nigeria

These are successful education transformation programs already delivering value in Nigeria based on a methodology that was recently studied by 2019 Nobel Prize Winning Professor, Micheal kremer and others, the report stated that:

“This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems.”

If replicated at scale across public systems, this integrated methodology could put students on the study track to match academic performance levels achieved by peers from upper‐middle‐income countries, pushing their countries up education league tables to match countries with incomes three or four times greater per person

Newglobe an education expert and leader in learning, who support national and state governments by creating powerful technology‐enabled education systems, were also present at the Paris summit represented by Stacey Nwokeyi, Vice President, Special Opportunities to showcase this methodology and the Kremer report to participants.

Omowale David‐Ashiru, Group Managing Director, NewGlobe had this to say about the study by the Nobel Prize Winning Professor kremer:

“Education is a powerful driver of development and one of the strongest instruments for reducing poverty and improving health, gender equality, peace and stability. Tackling learning poverty is an urgent challenge of our generation As we approach the election season in Nigeria, those aspiring for leadership positions should know that innovative education solutions that are proven to be effective at scale will define the prosperity, growth and security of our global future They should make it part of their plans/policies ”

Education scholars estimate education reforms resulting in a 25‐point gain on Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) (0 25 standard deviation) will increase the GDP growth rate by 0 5% annually in middle‐income countries Lagos, Edo and Kwara can expect the same outcome. Hopefully the whole of Nigeria can too,

EKOEXCELteacherswinat2021meritaward

“I advise that our teachers continue to uphold the ethics of the teaching profession and display an uncommon sense of responsibility and greater commitment to duty,” he further said.

4th July 2022

In yet another affirmation of its successful upskilling of teachers and the attendant improvement in their performances, four Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL teachers have received brand new SUVs and other prizes from Lagos State Government.

The four were among the 13 school teachers and administrators recognised at last Wednesday’s 2021 Teachers’ Merit Award for excellence and diligence in teaching

They include Mrs Fausat Adegeye of Ebenezer African Church Primary School, popularly known as Teacher Sade on TikTok, Mr Michael Ayoola of AUD Society Primary School II, Mrs Omolayo Fadayomi of Karaole Primary School Ifako and Mr Olusegun Muftau of Lasa United Nursery & Primary School, Ibeshe Town

Sanwo-Olu, who spoke at the ceremony held at the Lagos House in Ikeja, said it was in line with his administration’s commitment to using education as a weapon to develop Lagos and influence the teaching profession. He expressed happiness with EKOEXCEL’s strides, describing it as a game-changer in government’s quest to improve learning outcomes by upskilling teachers.

“The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 End line Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation has further justified the huge investment and affirmed the strategic interventions and impacts

“Through EKOEXCEL, thousands of teachers are being up-skilled through retraining and the use of technology that supports and motivates them to succeed in their classrooms This accentuates the importance of education to this administration and our continuous effort to strengthen the workforce’s capacity through employment opportunities for qualified teachers with a passion for teaching We have also instilled local and international trainings for our teachers, creating an enabling environment for teaching and learning ”

The governor further urged teachers not to see the award as a contest but as a motivation to continue to do their best, knowing that such commitment will one day be rewarded.

Since its launch in 2019 by Governor Sanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL has continued to record tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers Over 14,000 teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools

EKOEXCEL has also significantly increased pupils’ learning outcomes and drastically reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state by enrolling them in schools through the ‘Leave No Child Behind’ policy. It was only fitting that four of its teachers shone at the Merit Awards overseen by an independent committee led by the chairperson of the Association of Private Educators in Nigeria, Lai Koiki

Only recently, Chair, Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Comrade Akintoye Hassan, commended EKOEXCEL for revolutionising teaching in the state, particularly praising the standardised instrument guiding teachers in schools across the state

“EKOEXCEL has changed the classroom experience, as teaching and learning have become more pupilcentred. As you are teaching, you are also learning. The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance,” Hassan said.

the education development plan of the administration is the EKOEXCEL programme designed to support teachers to achieve better learning outcomes across all our public primary schools.”

2023:Educationandthepresidentialcandidates

such as renovation of schools and provision of school furniture, actual learning gains interventions have been inadequately funded, with poor teachers’ training and outdated teaching methods, it’s time the individuals, including the leading four, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President

Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and exKano Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso give a detailed breakdown of their plans and vision for taking education out of its current position and balance the existing budgetary allocation for education to focus more on learning gains

1st July 2022

FOLLOWING the conclusion of party primaries and the emergence of presidential standard-bearers of the major political parties, there’s an urgent need to examine the candidates’ stance on education critically

Amidst the giddy excitements of the primaries, not much was said about the educational policies of the 17 persons that have emerged as presidential standard-bearers of their parties, especially considering its obvious distress Lecturers in public universities have been on strike for over three months before their polytechnic colleagues joined them in snubbing work.

Secondary and primary schools are not faring any better, with a recent United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, report highlighting the poor learning outcomes in primary education The UNICEF report noted that while some 10 million pupils are out of school, 70 per cent of those in primary schools cannot read or perform basic numeracy tasks at 10

The vast majority of Nigeria’s youth face a bleak future if they cannot read and write; a bleak future for the youth means a bleak future for the country For those who do attend school they are not learning anything that would help them create opportunities for themselves or their society

UNICEF warned that in a couple of decades, the millions of current street children and those who attend school but don’t learn will be unable to add to society or the economy Our presidential candidates need to face this threat with strong policies and plans

This situation is ominous and what the immortal Malcolm X forewarned when he said “education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today”. American statesman and philosopher Benjamin Franklin affirmed the same, noting that “investment in knowledge pays the best interest” Education will determine whether Nigeria populous can take its rightful place on the world stage and deliver

Given that Federal Government investments in education have been majorly focused on infrastructural development

In a document titled: ‘My Covenant with Nigerians’, Atiku had said:

“The public education system is illequipped and has consistently underperformed, keeping millions of our children out of school and producing graduates with skills and competencies, which are not aligned to the needs of our communities and our industries

Incessant industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, ASUU, and other unions of educational institutions have undoubtedly affected the quality of our workforce with farreaching consequences on the economy.” In a viral manifesto of Tinubu, which his campaign organisation has since disowned, he reportedly pledged commitment to “overhaul the education sector and make a significant impact in education as a matter of priority I will triple education spending over the next four years from the current eight per cent to over 25 percent ”

But they and the others need to go beyond general platitudes to share their granular education plans,

given its dire straits Specifics are essential to show that they are serious about education and its vital role in the 21st-century, which is knowledge-driven. We need more commitment to addressing the issues in education, particularly the learning poverty and inchoate policies. Learning gains have to be improved. UNICEF’s gloomy forecast about the future of Nigeria’s primary education and even the comatose tertiary education needs to be averted The standard-bearers need to speak to this in detail and not just profess commitment to education

It should be a cardinal part of their manifestos as a recent study by a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer, has shown that all is not lost for education in Africa The study showed ‘among the greatest learning gains ever measured’ are coming out of Africa

The study holds out hope for Nigeria and shows that there will be marked improvements if the appropriate teaching and learning methodology is used by SUBEBs.

Reviewing the seminal study that critically appraised the methodology of a global edtech solution provider, NewGlobe, in Kenya and which Professor Kremer presented at the recently concluded Education World Forum in London, there is reason to believe those phenomenal impacts can be replicated in public education systems across Africa, including Nigeria.

The professor states that “attending schools delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems ” The study suggests that if replicated at scale across public education systems, the learning gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher

The study finds that after two years, primary school students, up to Junior Secondary in NewGlobe’s programme are nearly a whole additional year ahead of children taught using standard methods. For early childhood development – typically three and five-year-olds – children gain nearly an additional year and half of the learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

Thankfully, some states, including Lagos, Edo and recently Kwara, have been proactive in addressing the rot in both primary and tertiary education by adopting NewGlobe’s methodology. Lagos and Edo states, where the same NewGlobe methods reviewed in the study are in use in public primary schools under the government initiatives, EKOEXCEL and EdoBEST, have recorded significant and measurable impacts in improving learning outcomes, teaching and school administration Therefore, the parties’ presidential standard-bearers don’t need to look outside Nigeria for models they can adopt on a national scale

This is particularly noteworthy as studies have confirmed the efficacy of NewGlobe’s method in Lagos The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that pupils are making substantial progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative’s commencement. It further showed that an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil is now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the EKOEXCEL programme

LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELrecordsmilestones asLagospupilsshineinNCEE

EKOEXCEL, the innovative digital initiative launched by the Lagos State Government in 2019 to transform public primary schools has continued to record impressive results, with three pupils from the state excelling in the 2022 National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE) written in Nigeria, as well as in Benin Republic and Togo.

Managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), EKOEXCEL has radically transformed public primary education in the state It has recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers

The EKOEXCEL programme tracked the performance of Lagos pupils transiting to secondary schools in high stakes examinations, particularly the 2022 NCEE and 2021-22 Mock Common Entrance Examinations (MCEE), indicating that EKOEXCEL pupils had excellent scores.

While the overall best student in the NCEE conducted by the National Examinations Council (NECO) scored 201 out of 210, three pupils of Lagos public primary schools were just five points behind.

Ayomide Daniel Ajayi of Hussey Military, Yaba, scored 198, Damilola Basit Araba of the same school had 197 and Deborah Ugbaha of St. Georges Girls scored 196.

While Ugbaha came third among Lagos pupils who sat for the NCEE, she was first in the in-school examinations, including end of term one and two examinations and the term one mock examinations Ajayi and Araba were second and third, respectively Her outstanding performance also attests to the efficacy of EKOEXCEL’s methodology in boosting gender parity

The trio were not the only successful Lagos pupils, others also had good scores, showing the significant movement of EKOEXCEL pupils towards proficiency by more than 20 per cent Of 53 pupils tracked and ascertained to have registered for the NCEE, 32 had excellent grades.

LASUBEB’s Executive Chairman, Wahab Alawiye-King, who spoke on report’s findings, expressed delight at EKOEXCEL’s positive impacts, particularly learning improvements among pupils.

We are pleased with the performance of our pupils. It affirms that our methodology and processes are working and proves that Lagos is an exception from the recent UNICEF report that raised the alarm about poor learning outcomes in Nigeria’s primary education. With the support of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, we have shown that we can improve learning outcomes among pupils with strategic interventions like EKOEXCEL.”

Alawiye-King assured that EKOEXCEL would not relent and that Lagos pupils would do better in the next NCEE.

1st July 2022

LASUBEBtrains270indigentout-of-schoolchildrenparents

30th June 2022

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has trained 270 indigent parents and guardians of enrolled Out-Of-School Children (OOSC) Assistant Editor BOLA OLAJUWON writes on the philosophy behind the training, which is financial sustainability.

Nigerian schools’ policy-makers are being confronted by two major challenges in the education sector –the issue of 10.5 million out-of-school children in Nigeria, which is the highest rate in the world, and the question of “learning poverty”

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said 10 5 million children are out of school in Nigeria Also, the World Bank defines learning poverty as: “the inability to read and understand a simple text by age 10 ” When a child can’t read, it further impedes their ability to succeed in school and beyond

Moreover, 260 million children are not even in school This is the leading edge of a learning crisis that threatens countries’ efforts to build human capital and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Without foundational learning, students often fail to thrive later in school or when they join the workforce.

For the Lagos State Government, its educational administrators are using NewGlobe Methodology, which a Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer, has confirmed among the largest learning gains measured in schools by a major study in Africa, including Nigeria

The groundbreaking study, led by the 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist, finds that children living in underserved African communities receive 53 percent more learning in schools supported by Nigerian government partner NewGlobe, throughout their early childhood and primary schooling. The Lagos State Government is one of three states using the methodology with its EKOEXCEL programme

Training indigent parents, guardians of enrolled out-of-school children

However, to sustain retention, completion and transition of newly enrolled pupils in public primary schools, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) in collaboration with the Ministry of Women Affairs and Poverty Alleviation (WAPA) has trained 270 indigent parents and guardians of enrolled Out-Of-School-Children (OOSC) under the Project Zero initiative

The Board sought WAPA’s collaboration and support in tackling the peril of out-of-school children in the state.

At the graduation held at SUBEB hall, the Executive Chairman LASUBEB, Wahab Alawiye-King stated that the three-week skill acquisition and empowerment training programme, which commenced on Monday, 6th – 23rd June, is designed to tackle the root causes of the menace of OOSC

He noted: “The board realised the need to address the causative factors, one of which was identified as socio-economic challenges of parents/guardians of these children ”

Appreciating public and private organisation that have so far supported the project zero initiative, he extolled WAPA for supporting the board in the realisation of its objective to rid the state of roaming school-age children, by ensuring that pupils enrolled are retained in schools

Philosophy behind the training

Alawiye-King noted that the skills acquired by the burden bearers will help them become self-reliant and independent. He advised the graduates to utilise the skills learnt as a means of earning legitimate incomes, stating that they have been trained to be self-sufficient in order to care for their wards, ensure their regular attendance in schools and prevent child labour

Commissioner of WAPA Mrs Cecelia Dada, while welcoming participants, noted that the short term skills acquisition programme is a promise fulfillment to the board, directed at financial sustainability of the indigent parents

She noted that the parents had been trained on nine various skills of choice such as Hair & Wig Making, Event Decoration & Management, Fabric Stoning & Embellishments, Cake, Snacks & Beverage Production, Soap, Pomade & Insecticide Production, Throw Pillow &Duvet Making, Ankara Craft and Leather Works, Make-up & Gele Tying, and Tie & Dye.

The overall essence of this economic empowerment is status lifting and most importantly provision of their children’s needs Prizes were presented to outstanding participants by the board and the graduates were issued professional certifications and equipment

Lagosrewardsteacherswith13newcars

30th June 2022

Thirteen teachers and school administrators were on Wednesday honoured with brand new cars and other prizes, as Lagos State marked the 2021 Annual Teachers’ Merit Award.

The lucky winners were Adenike Ojo, Adeola Adefemi, Bolanle Alamu, Fausat Adegeye, Folashade Oyedeji, Lukman Agbabiaka and Michael Ayoola

Others were Olubukola Dosumu, Olusegun Muftau, Oluseyi Amao, Omolayo Fadayomi, Soji

Megbowon and Yahya Adesokan.

Speaking on the occasion, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said the teaching profession and education were critical to the society to be left in the lurch

“Today has been an eventful day for me and the state Earlier today, we inaugurated the Vetland Junior International School, Agege which is the first modular, digitized school in the country. Our focus on education is in line with our belief that education is the fulcrum that would ensure a better society.

Today’s event is to promote merit and encourage healthy competition among our teachers

“When we held the first edition last year, some people thought it was a fluke Last year we gave out salon cars but now we are giving out 13 brand new sport utility vehicles. Recognising teachers is to help promote world class education in our state. I am happy to tell you that our huge investment in EKOEXCEL has been justified by the evaluation that was done

“Over 15,000 teachers have been skilled up through local and international training Also, our performance in WAEC exam has improved In 2020, we had 38 79%, but in 2021, we had 81% which is inclusive of credit passes in English and Mathematics We are not expecting anything less this year

“In February this year, we started the Comprehensive High School programme with 12 schools and we want the figure to hit at least 50 this year The programme is meant to set our students on their career paths We will continue to increase budgetary allocations to education and take the welfare of teachers as priority", he said.

The governor also commended private school owners for the support

The Guest Speaker, Mr Gbenga Oyebode, who is also the Chairman, Teach for Nigeria, said education has taken a new dimension with the COVID-19 pandemic.

He urged teachers to innovate and adapt to the new trend.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folashade Adefisayo, lauded Governor Sanwo-Olu for living up to his promise of rewarding teachers in the state She said 3,529 applications were received out of which 22 got to the semi final stage

The Chairman, Nomination Committee, Mrs Lai Koiki, explained that the applications were screened at four stages and the exercise done in transparent manner

She announced that two of last year’s winners went ahead to win national and international honours.

2023: Education Should Be At The Front Burner Of Nigeria’s’ Presidential Aspirants

But they and the others need to go beyond general platitudes to share their granular education plans, given its dire straits. Specifics are essential to show that they are serious about education and its vital role in the 21st-century, which is knowledgedriven We need more commitment to addressing the issues in education, particularly the learning poverty and inchoate policies

27th June 2022

Following the conclusion of party primaries and the emergence of presidential standard-bearers of the major political parties, there’s an urgent need to examine the candidates’ stance on education critically

Lecturers in public universities have been on strike for over three months before their polytechnic colleagues joined them in snubbing work

Secondary and primary schools are not faring any better, with a recent United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report highlighting the poor learning outcomes in primary education The UNICEF report noted that while some 10 million pupils are out of school, 70 percent of those in primary schools cannot read or perform basic numeracy tasks at 10

The vast majority of Nigeria’s youth face a bleak future if they cannot read and write; a bleak future for the youth means a bleak future for the country. For those who do attend school they are not learning anything that would help them create opportunities for themselves or their society UNICEF warned that in a couple of decades, the millions of current street children and those who attend school but don’t learn will be unable to add to society or the economy Our presidential candidates need to face this threat with strong policies and plans

in education have been majorly focused on infrastructural development such as renovation of schools and provision of school furniture, actual learning gains interventions have been inadequately funded, with poor teachers’ training and outdated teaching methods, it’s time the individuals, including the leading four, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar, former Anambra State Governor Peter Obi and ex-Kano Governor, Senator Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso give a detailed breakdown of their plans and vision for taking education out of its current position and balance the existing budgetary allocation for education to focus more on learning gains

In a document entitled ‘My Covenant with Nigerians’, Atiku had said, “The public education system is ill-equipped and has consistently underperformed, keeping millions of our children out of school and producing graduates with skills and competencies, which are not aligned to the needs of our communities and our industries Incessant industrial actions by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and other unions of educational institutions have undoubtedly affected the quality of our workforce with far-reaching consequences on the economy.”

In a viral manifesto of Tinubu, which his campaign organisation has since disowned, reportedly pledged commitment “to overhauling the education sector and making a significant impact in education as a matter of priority I will triple education spending over the next four years from the current 8% to over 25% ”

Learning gains have to be improved UNICEF’s gloomy forecast about the future of Nigeria’s primary education and even the comatose tertiary education needs to be averted The standard-bearers need to speak to this in detail and not just profess commitment to education

It should be a cardinal part of their manifestos as a recent study by a Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer has shown that all is not lost for education in Africa. The study showed ‘among the greatest learning gains ever measured’ is coming out of Africa The study holds out hope for Nigeria and shows that there will be marked improvements if the appropriate teaching and learning methodology is used by SUBEBs

“Attending schools delivering highly standardised education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardisation, including standardised lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems ”

The study suggests that if replicated at scale across public education systems, the learning gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher

The study finds that after two years, primary school students, up to junior secondary in NewGlobe’s programme are nearly a whole additional year ahead of children taught using standard methods For early childhood development –typically three and five-year-olds –children gain nearly an additional year and half of the learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

Thankfully, some states, including Lagos, Edo and recently Kwara, have been proactive in addressing the rot in both primary and tertiary education by adopting NewGlobe’s methodology Lagos and Edo States, where the same NewGlobe methods reviewed in the study are in use in public primary schools under the government initiatives, EKOEXCEL and EdoBEST, have recorded significant and measurable impacts in improving learning outcomes, teaching and school administration. Therefore, the parties’ presidential standard-bearers don’t need to look outside Nigeria for models they can adopt on a national scale

This is particularly noteworthy as studies have confirmed the efficacy of NewGlobe’s method in Lagos The EKOEXCEL 20202021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that pupils are making substantial progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their performance before the initiative’s commencement.

It further showed that an average Primary 3 EKOEXCEL pupil is now reading at nearly the same fluency level as an average Primary 5 pupil from before the launch of the EKOEXCEL programme The evaluation also affirmed that EKOEXCEL is improving learning over what existed before

Also reviewing EKOEXCEL’s impacts, the Paul and Jean Hanna Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution of Stanford University, Professor Eric A Hanushek, awarded the 2021 Yidan Prize for Education Research, lauded its impact on Lagos’ economic transformation

He wrote: “The EKOEXCEL early results point to the kinds of transformational educational experiences that can dramatically change the future economic outcomes for Lagos State In educational interventions, it is seldom the case that positive results are apparent so early in the program. We now have strong research from around the world that shows that economic growth is directly related to the populations’ skills. If the EKOEXCEL improvements are sustained across all of the primary schools in Lagos, the future labour force of the state will be significantly enhanced, leading to a new economic era ”

The same successes have been recorded in EdoBEST; which has now expanded into progressive schools and junior secondary schools so that the impact reaches even more of the State’s youth Edo’s schools are now delivering learning at a pace that matches them with education giants in South Asia and the World Bank is so confident it has lent its support. Improved learning experiences in classrooms across the state.

Education is too important to be treated with levity by Nigeria’s aspiring presidents We need them to make it a crucial part of their manifestos and engage with us, the citizens, on how they will tackle the rots in the current system from the bottom to the top

Presidential candidates need to ensure that it is not a few outlier states that are changing the opportunities for their population but that it is systematic, intentional and focussed System change at local, state and national levels No country develops without strategic education that uses available funds effectively.

At this point in our national development, we need the politicians to commit more to quality education. That is the only pathway to growth. As Aristotle rightly noted, “the roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet ” The aspiring presidents and others seeking executive elective offices need to know this and prioritise education if they are serious about delivering economic growth and a prosperous Nigeria

EKOEXCELtotherescue

is managed by the Lagos State asic Education Board (LASUBEB) obe as the technical partner aunched in the latter part of 2019 uality education The initiative is the Lagos State Universal Basic oard (LASUBEB) with New Globe ical partner

23rd June 2022

To revamp the education sector in Lagos State, the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu evolved the Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) in 2019. The intervention, which is being managed by the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB), is improving the quality of teaching and learning as well as infrastructural standards.

Teachers, among other significant stakeholders, are pivotal to any societal development because they have been entrusted with the responsibility of training other contributors to the advancement of any country. As essential stakeholders in the education sector, teachers also try to monitor the progress in this allimportant sector to ensure that all is well.

In Lagos State, for instance, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) is important in the public primary education sector, because it has continued to proffer suggestions on how to improve the horrid situation that the sector has become To save the sector, the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu evolved an education intervention known as Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL), which was launched in the latter part of 2019 to provide quality education

d in the massive construction and renovation of existing educational infrastructure: completion of more than 1,097 school projects, upgrade and rehabilitation of 322 dilapidated public schools and furnishing of primary schools with 87,000 dual composite units of chairs and desks

As a result of the tremendous transformation in the sector, the Lagos State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) has commended LASUBEB for repositioning of the education sector in the state Appraising the transformation in the sector since the launch of the EKOEXCEL initiative in 2019, the Chairman of Lagos State NUT, Comrade Akintoye Hassan, said Governor Sanwo-Olu had a clear goal toward reviving the sector

Before the initiative was launched, the state’s primary school education system was grossly inadequate, and Governor Sanwo-Olu knew it wouldn’t help his vision of making Lagos a 21st-century economy; with quality education as one of the critical drivers.

Previous studies highlighted the deplorable state of public primary schools and why parents were shunning them for private schools, even with ill-trained teachers and poor pedagogy So, EKOEXCEL came to transform public primary education by introducing modern pedagogical and technical skills to manage school systems, improve learning outcomes, and develop professional competencies

"We will ensure technology is integrated into our school curriculum and empower our youths with the much-needed skills for the jobs of tomorrow,” Sanwo-Olu had promised before assuming office

The transformational initiative has since recorded many strides Over 18,000 head teachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme The education reform programme has also recorded remarkable gains in enhancing the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in primary schools. The intervention has also aided uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum

Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and contents that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across public primary schools The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy

Evaluation also showed that EKOEXCEL pupils being taught with New Globe’s methods are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement

All these achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of teachers, a vital cog in EKOEXCEL’s wheels. Initially resistant to the idea as humans tend to do when innovative change is introduced, the teachers and their labour body, the NUT, have since become converts and apostles of EKOEXCEL – thanks to its efficacy and visible impacts on students and teachers

The Lagos NUT Chair, Comrade Hassan attested to these positive developments in a recent interview Hassan highlighted the clear difference by critically examining Lagos public primary schools pre and postEKOEXCEL’s introduction

"Before the intervention, teaching was analogue It was based on the competence of individual teachers manning the classroom, but the level of competence varies from one individual to another. Because of the analogue method, you couldn’t thoroughly ascertain the performance standard, but with the introduction of the highly digitalised EKOEXCEL, we now have that standard The teachers have a standardised digital instrument that leads them in the performance of their duties "

"Then, teaching before the intervention was more teachercentred The teacher determines how they go about the teaching, but they sometimes unconsciously forget that their teaching is about pupils in the classroom because a framework is absent But with EKOEXCEL, there is a standardised instrument guiding a teacher in Alimosho and another in Ibeju-Lekki or even teachers within the same local government, but at different schools.

“EKOEXCEL has brought about change as teaching and learning have become more pupil-centred. As you are teaching, you are also learning. The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance,” he said

A Nobel Prize-winning economist, Prof Michael Kremer, recently hailed the methodology of New Globe, EKOEXCEL’s technical partner, for promoting equitable learning The seminal study of New Globe’s methods in Kenya has since been adopted in Lagos, Edo and recently Kwara states, where the organisation has entered into strategic partnerships with the state governments and produced more equitable learning outcomes among students

The methods ensure that slow learners are not left behind while

boosting fast learners, as was the case in the past when there were no scientific methods of ascertaining learning outcomes The Lagos NUT boss confirmed that they are seeing this same development in schools with EKOEXCEL.

“Before the intervention, teaching was more about the slow learners. When you finish teaching, you ask questions When you realise that most of the pupils did not comprehend, you repeat, not minding that there is a time limit But invariably, you cannot sustain doing that

“But with EKOEXCEL, slow learners are now in a more advantageous position because there are supplementary classes in Mathematics and English that are held daily They help slow learners to catch up on the things they missed in their early years,” he said

Like most teachers, he was initially sceptical when Governor Sanwo-Olu unveiled the initiative “People tend to prefer an old order, maybe for fear of two things. They are not sure of the benefits the new order will bring, and because of that, they wouldn’t want to lose the benefit of the old order they already enjoy.

“So, at that time, we were all sceptical, but it faded off with the introduction of the training People began to change, and the preintroduction training organised by EKOEXCEL assisted in reducing the level of scepticism ”

“Through Education International, we attended a seminar and we were made to understand that interventions of such nature may likely affect the interests of poor children in society It probably might lead to job loss on the teachers’ side too, so that was the expectation But the training organised by EKOEXCEL before the implementation addressed some of these fears

“Till today, none of such has happened Rather, on the side of SUBEB, you can see the very vigorous attempt to make sure that no child is left behind. They use different strategies to advocate for the enrolment of

children in public schools And rather than losing any of the teachers, we have witnessed more employment In terms of our false expectation, we have been disappointed.”

“There is proper coordination and synergy among the stakeholders; the EKOEXCEL Team, SUBEB, and NUT give time for evaluation of the process The interactions allow for joint operations evaluation, and the key learning is being adopted ”

The union leader is so confident of EKOEXCEL’s impressive strides, which were also acknowledged at the just-concluded 2022 Education World Forum (EWF) in Britain, the United Kingdom, that he doesn’t foresee a work stoppage in its operations even if a new government comes on board in Lagos

“The world is a global village through innovative technology, and virtually all human activities are evolving. It’s either you move along or get yourself out of the track. Even if there is a leadership change, the situation has compelled us to embrace the new order, which has to do with the application of technology. So, we can’t afford to go back Rather, what we are likely to witness is improving what is now I am not even imagining going back; I don’t foresee it

In the future, the NUT Chair wants more collaboration with EKOEXCEL to plan and execute an annual lecture for teachers and education development because it is the future

The future is knowledge-based, so parents should strive to educate their children because it is the key to a greater future “Advanced countries reached their current levels based on knowledge and quality education, not just certificates but practical, rigorous education. That’s the level we want to be."

AfricanChildDay:LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELSeeks Collaboration,SupportOfStakeholders

EKOEXCEL has also significantly increased pupils learning outcomes and drastically reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state by enrolling them in schools through the ‘Leave No Child Behind’ policy

16th June 2022

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB’s)

EKOEXCEL says it is ready to collaborate with stakeholders in the education sector to eliminate harmful socio-cultural and economic practices that affect the all-round development of pupils

LASUBEB said this in commemorating the 2022 Day of the African Child themed: “Eliminating Harmful Practices Affecting Children: Progress on Policy and Practice

Since 2013,” on Thursday, June 16.

The day has been celebrated annually since 1991 in honour of students massacred in Soweto, South Africa, in 1976 for protesting against education injustice and inequality in the apartheid regime

Speaking on the 2022 event, especially in light of last year’s revelation by UNICEF that Africa has 42 million out-of-school children and Nigeria 10 5 million, EKOEXCEL reaffirmed its commitment to improved learning outcomes for pupils in Lagos public primary schools through innovative pedagogy

It also reassured that training primary school teachers in modern teaching styles that would improve their delivery and further boost pupils would be a priority.

LASUBEB Chair, Wahab Alawiye-King, solicited the cooperation of parents, guardians and other stakeholders to ensure further that it continues to impact pupils positively

“We only have the pupils with us in schools for a limited number of hours daily They spend more time at home with their parents and guardians; we need them to complement our efforts so that the pupils can survive in today’s knowledge-driven economy Besides, we want to improve our pupils’ learning outcomes further and enrol those on the streets to return to the classroom. To do this, we need everybody to play their role by discouraging child labour, selective education of boys and other harmful practices that might affect children’s future We thereby solicit more support from NGOs and other stakeholders in the education sector to get pupils in the classroom and stop harmful cultural practices "

Initiated in 2019 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, EKOEXCEL has radically transformed primary education in the state It has recorded tangible gains among teachers and pupils, leading to improved learning outcomes for pupils and more professional teachers Over 14,000 teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools.

The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement

In a seminal study that critically appraised the methodology of global EdTech company, NewGlobe (technical partner of EKOEXCEL), in Kenya and which he presented at the recently concluded Education World Forum in London, Nobel Prize winner, Professor Michael Kremer found that it produced better and more equitable learning outcomes among students.

Kremer said, “the study finds that if replicated at scale across public education systems, the gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher

“The study finds that after two years, primary school students in NewGlobe’s Kenya program are nearly a whole additional year ahead of children taught using traditional methods ”For early childhood development –typically three and five-year-olds –children gain nearly an additional year and half of the learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years.”

NobelPrizewinner,Kremerokays

MethodologyunderpinningEKOEXCEL

For early childhood development (ECD) students the gains were even bigger ECD pupils using the same methodology as EKOEXCEL gained almost an additional year and half of learning (1 48), learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

Foundational literacy gives children better life chances but the World Bank estimates that 50% of children in low and middle income countries cannot read with comprehension by their tenth birthday.

8th June 2022

A major new study by 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer’s has been published, looking at the methodology underpinning some of Nigeria’s flagship education reforms.

The groundbreaking study into an approach to teaching, learning and school management, which first started in Kenya before arriving in Nigeria, has announced learning gains among the ‘largest ever measured in international education’ The impact is among the greatest of any rigorously studied intervention in emerging markets The methodology powered by NewGlobe, an education technical partner supporting visionary governments in the transformation of public education, is the same one used in Governor Babajide SanwoOlu’s education transformation program EKO Excellence in Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL).

This same integrated approach to teaching and learning acclaimed by Professor Kremer was adopted by the Lagos State government to support public primary school teachers and the Lagos State Basic Education Board with the introduction of EKOEXCEL in all primary schools in the state Launched in 2019 and made free of fees to pupils by the Lagos State government, EKOEXCEL has made remarkable achievements, Over 18,000 headteachers and teachers have been retrained using the EKOEXCEL methodology Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have also been captured under the scheme

The highly anticipated study by Professor Kremer and his co-authors found that early childhood development (ECD) and primary school students in the studied education program gain almost an additional year of learning (0.89) under the NewGlobe integrated methodology, learning in two years what their peers in other traditional schools learn in nearly three.

The newly released study found that a student in grade one (approximately 7 years old) is three times more likely to be able to read when taught using the same methods used in EKOEXCEL. The findings in the study put the learning gains in the top 1% of learning gains ever rigorously studied at scale in low and middle-income countries Assuming similar impacts over the course of a student’s primary schooling, those in NewGlobe supported schools would receive 53% more education over the course of their early childhood and primary school career

The study was conducted over two school years and included over 10,000 students from lower socio-economic backgrounds using indicators such as access to electricity and whether homes had dirt or mud floors.

2019 Nobel Prize Winner, Professor Kremer said: “The effects in this study are among the largest in the international education literature, particularly for a program that was already operating at scale

“This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems ”

The relevance of the study’s findings for political leaders and policy makers is clear When students are better educated, the economy benefits significantly Economic growth follows improved schooling, enhancing the opportunities for a nation’s youth, and for the economy’s workforce

Attesting to the success of the EKOEXCEL program, Governor Sanwo-Olu indicated that Nigeria doesn’t need to adopt any other elearning solutions from outside the country as the one within (EKOEXCEL) works well. He further revealed that Lagos borrowed the methodology of EKOEXCEL from EdoBEST and upscaled its impact three times more

Sanwo-Olu said, “I usually acknowledge Governor Obaseki because I copied something that he introduced during his first tenure and which is working three times in Lagos, education He started EdoBEST, and he brought in Bridge (New Globe), an e-learning solution provider with tablets for basic education

“So, you can see that indeed, we have started doing peer review You don’t need to go to another country to copy what is working well in our country already. He brought the initiative, and we said we also need to start with basic education. We have copied that from Edo; it’s working well in Lagos, and we’ll scale it up.”

If replicated at scale across other State Governments’ public schools, this integrated methodology could put more pupils on track to match academic performance levels achieved by peers from middle and upper-middle income countries, potentially pushing Nigeria up education league tables to match countries with incomes three or four times greater per person.

Achieving these results is not due to one single programming aspect but rather the integrated methodology that produces better academic performance and fairer educational outcomes The study highlights a combination of methods deployed in Lagos State’s EKOEXCEL, including instructional design and ongoing professional development and support as part of this holistic system

Like many education systems, the outbreak of Covid-19 impacted education in Lagos

However, the EKOEXCEL programme enabled children to continue learning unlike many of their peers across The State Government deployed the largest rollout of technology in Africa –giving half a million MP3 players to students to support remote learning. Even in a challenging education landscape; EKOEXCEL still continued to improve learning for pupils.

As the study shows, an effective holistic learning system can deliver transformational learning outcomes at scale and tackle the endemic learning poverty crisis

Approximately a million students in Africa – the vast majority in Nigeria –are currently being taught using the methodology in this ground-breaking study and the figure is increasing year on year

8th June 2022

Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Michael Kremer, has confirmed among the largest learning gains measured in schools by a major study in Africa, including Nigeria.

The groundbreaking study, led by the 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist, finds that children living in underserved African communities receive 53% more learning in schools supported by Nigerian government partner NewGlobe, throughout their early childhood and primary schooling.

The study findings were announced in a speech by the Nobel Prizewinning economist to African Heads of State and Education Ministers, including Nigerian UBEC and SUBEB leaders at the Education World Forum in London themed ‘Education: building forward together; stronger, bolder, better ’

The holistic methodology studied by the Nobel prize winning author underpins Nigeria’s state wide Lagos (EKOEXCEL), Edo (EdoBEST) and Kwara (KwaraLEARN) public transformation programs Nigeria’s Governors have implemented the methodology to transform learning outcomes across their public school systems including early childhood, primary and junior secondary schools.

The study finds that if replicated at scale across public education systems, the gains would be enough to put African children from underserved communities on track to match their peers in countries with incomes three or four times higher

after two years, nts in NewGlobe’s Kenya program are nearly a whole additional year ahead of children taught using traditional methods For early childhood development (ECD) – typically 3 and 5 year olds – children gain nearly an additional year and half of learning; learning in two years what students in other schools learn in three and a half years

In academic terms, NewGlobe increased student learning by 1.35 standard deviations for early childhood learning and 0.81 standard deviations for primary learning. To put these into context, these effect sizes far outpace the 99th percentile of, and represent learning gains in the top 1%, ever, rigorously studied at scale in Africa

The study also finds children taught using NewGlobe’s methods are more than three times more likely to be able to read at age seven than their peers in other schools The World Bank estimates that 90% of 10 year-olds in Sub-Saharan Africa do not reach this benchmark

Students starting with the lowest learning levels gained the most, with girls making the same leap in learning as boys It contrasts with research which shows girls in Sub-Saharan Africa are consistently disadvantaged in learning

The results are a resounding affirmation of NewGlobe’s integrated learning system across Africa, including Nigeria, and South Asia supporting over a million children in schools, increasing every year.

The two-year study is the result of a largescale randomized control trial (RCT), including more than 10,000 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds

After two years, primary students taught using NewGlobe’s full learning system are nearly a whole additional year of learning ahead of students in other schools taught using ordinary methods – with learning increased by 0 81 standard deviations

For early childhood students, two years of teaching using NewGlobe’s methods puts them a year-and-a-half of additional learning ahead of students in other schools – with learning levels increased by a remarkable 1.35 standard deviations.

In NewGlobe-supported schools, 82% of Grade 1 students –typically six to seven year olds –can read a sentence, compared with 27% of those in other schools.

Students starting from the lowest learning levels gain the most. Learning gains were greatest for students predicted to have the lowest performance who outperformed similar students attending other schools by a larger margin than their more advantaged peers

The study is the largest of its kind in Africa. The results are by far the most authoritative on the use of the model pioneered by NewGlobe, which includes individual – and ongoing –training and coaching for all teachers, use of a digital learning platform with real time data analysis; teaching guides grounded in scientifically-based pedagogy; and a 360 support system

NobelPrize-winnerconfirms learninggainsamonglargest evermeasuredinAfrica,in newindependentstudy

2019 Nobel Prize Laureate, Professor Michael Kremer said:

“The effects in this study are among the largest in the international education literature, particularly for a program that was already operating at scale.

“This study shows that attending schools delivering highly standardized education has the potential to produce dramatic learning gains at scale, suggesting that policymakers may wish to explore incorporation of standardization, including standardized lesson plans and teacher feedback and monitoring, in their own systems ”

Professor Isaac Mbiti of the University of Virginia and a coauthor of the study said:

“Overall, attending NewGlobe has a large effect on academic knowledge across a range of subjects Detailed lesson plans can help ensure that best practices are being followed in the classroom and can promote real-time monitoring and feedback about teachers and lesson plans.

“This study illustrates the promise of alternative models of education in improving the effectiveness of primary and pre-primary schools in developing countries ”

NewGlobe Nigeria General Managing Director, Omowale David-Ashiru said:

“Tackling learning poverty is an urgent challenge of our generation, especially as we approach the election season in Nigeria Those aspiring for leadership positions should know that innovative education solutions that are proven to be effective at scale will define the prosperity, growth and security of our global future. They should make it part of their plans/policies.

“NewGlobe is delighted that an independent study of this size, led by a Nobel-prize winning economist, has found such unequivocal evidence of the unrivaled learning gains NewGlobe’s holistic approach to teaching and learning deliver.”

"The saving grace for our country is education and not just sending children to school but having basic, qualitative and foundational education Once you get basic education right everything else falls into place. With the support of our technical partners [NewGlobe] on teaching and learning, we applied technology to re-engineer the entire cycle of delivery and accountability while redesigning teacher support, welfare and training to foster success in the classroom ”

Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, Babajide Sanwo-Olu said:

“NewGlobe is well-positioned to support Nigerian state governments to achieve improved learning outcomes in national education systems and employ new techniques and methodologies that have been proven to yield better results for their children. The methodology in the study by the Nobel prize winner has been deployed with significant success by Government leaders in public education systems across Nigeria.

"In Edo State’s Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) program in Nigeria, results indicated students had the equivalent of 54% more schooling in English and 71% more schooling in math, learning in one term than what would have normally been learnt in 1 year In Lagos State’s Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL) program, students advanced in numeracy twice as fast and in literacy three times as fast as their peers "

Governor of Edo State, Nigeria, Godwin Obaseki said:

“We are determined to transform the education sector and properly direct the state’s resources to develop human capacity.

“I usually acknowledge Governor Obaseki because I copied something that he introduced during his first tenure and which is working in Lagos, education He started EDOBEST, and he brought NewGlobe, an e-learning solution provider for basic education You don’t need to go to another country to copy what is working well in our country already He brought the initiative, and we said we also need to start with basic education. We have copied that from Edo; it’s working well in Lagos, and we’ll scale it up.”

Governor of Kwara State, Nigeria, Abdulrahman AbdulRazaq said:

“KwaraLEARN represents our vision for a stronger and more prosperous Kwara Our flagship education programme takes the baton from preexisting transformation programmes in Lagos and Edo States, both of which are local solutions already delivering value We have understudied and have now made it fit for our own system here in Kwara This is a lifetime investment that empowers teachers and gives public school pupils the best shot at 21st century education with reverberating effects on learning outcomes and the future of the state ”

The data-driven scientific learning techniques that underpin this study are the blueprint for those used in all schools NewGlobe supports in Edo, Lagos and Kwara States. It shows that it is possible to deliver radical and immediate change for generations of children and that poverty isn’t destiny for individuals or nations.

NUTLagosChapter commendsLASUBEB’s transformational EKOEXCELprogram

6th June 2022

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) is one of the critical stakeholders in Lagos State’s public primary education sector. The body looks out for its members, but it’s also concerned about impactful and positive learning outcomes for pupils, hence its joy with the introduction of EKOEXCEL The Lagos NUT Chair, Comrade Akintoye Hassan, appraises the transformational intervention

In 2019 when Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched the EKOEXCEL (Excellence in Child Education and Learning) initiative, he had a clear goal The state’s primary school education system was then grossly inadequate It wouldn’t help his vision of making Lagos a 21st century economy with quality education one of the critical drivers. Previous studies highlighted the deplorable state of public primary schools and why parents were shunning them for private schools even with ill-trained teachers and poor pedagogy.

So, EKOEXCEL came to transform public primary education by introducing modern pedagogical and technical skills to manage school systems, improve learning outcomes, and develop professional competencies

“We will ensure technology is integrated into our school curriculum and empower our youths with the much-needed skills for the jobs of tomorrow,” Sanwo-Olu had promised before assuming office

The transformational i recorded many strides Lagos State Universa Board (SUBEB), with e G obe as t e technical partner. Over 18,000 headteachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula. Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme. The education reform programme has also recorded remarkable gains in enhancing the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in primary schools

The intervention has also aided uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across public primary schools

The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation also showed that EKOEXCEL pupils being taught with NewGlobe’s methods are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement.

All these achievements wouldn’t have been possible without the cooperation of teachers, a vital cog in EKOEXCEL’s wheels Initially resistant to the idea as humans tend to do when innovative change is introduced, the teachers and their labour body, the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), have since become converts and apostles of EKOEXCEL, thanks to its efficacy and visible impacts on students and teachers

assa g g ted t e c ea d e e ce by critically examining Lagos public primary schools pre and post EKOEXCEL’s introduction.

“Before the intervention, teaching was analogue,” he began in his office. “It was based on the competence of individual teachers manning the classroom, but the level of competence varies from one individual to another Because of the analogue method, you couldn’t thoroughly ascertain the performance standard, but with the introduction of the highly digitalised EKOEXCEL, we now have that standard The teachers have a standardised digital instrument that leads them in the performance of their duties

“Then, teaching before the intervention was more teacher-centred The teacher determines how they go about the teaching, but they sometimes unconsciously forget that their teaching is about pupils in the classroom because a framework is absent. But with EKOEXCEL, there is a standardised instrument guiding a teacher in Alimosho and another in Ibeju lekki or even teachers within the same local government, but at different schools

"EKOEXCEL has brought about change as teaching and learning have become more pupil-centred As you are teaching, you are also learning The innovative technology has also enabled the teacher to learn because there is guidance "

The methods ensure that slow learners are not left behind while boosting fast learners, as was the case in the past when there were no scientific methods of ascertaining learning outcomes. The Lagos NUT chair confirmed that they are seeing this same development in schools with EKOEXCEL

He explained: “Before the intervention, teaching was more about the slow learners When you finish teaching, you ask questions When you realise that most of the pupils did not comprehend, you repeat, not minding that there is a time limit But invariably, you cannot sustain doing that But with EKOEXCEL, slow learners are now in a more advantageous position because there are supplementary classes in maths and English that are held daily They help slow learners to catch up on the things they missed in their early years ”

It’s interesting to hear Comrade Hassan speak so glowingly about EKOEXCEL. Like most teachers, he was initially sceptical when the Governor unveiled the initiative.

“People tend to prefer an old order, maybe for fear of two things They are not sure of the benefits the new order will bring, and because of that, they wouldn’t want to lose the benefit of the old order they already enjoy So, at that time, we were all sceptical, but it faded off with the introduction of the training People began to change, and the pre-introduction training organised by EKOEXCEL assisted in reducing the level of scepticism ”

Continuing, he disclosed that his initial fears about the introduction of EKOEXCEL leading to a loss of jobs have since been allayed

“Through Education International, we attended a seminar and were made to understand that interventions of such nature may likely affect the interests of poor children in the society.

It probably might lead to job loss on the teachers’ side too, so that was the expectation But the training organised by EKOEXCEL before the implementation addressed some of these fears. Till today, none of such has happened. Rather, on the side of SUBEB, you can see the very vigorous attempt to make sure that no child is left behind. They use different strategies to advocate for the enrolment of children in public schools And rather than losing any of the teachers, we have witnessed more employment In terms of our false expectation, we have been disappointed ”

He added that the feedback the NUT has been receiving from members has been positive “It has been a pleasant story Initially, we had issues with how the tablets operate, but our members have become used to it over time Hardly can you hear any complaint about the utilisation of that tablet “Their feedback about slow learners has also been addressed with supplementary classes and modules Overall, the complaints we now get are not as serious as they used to be when the intervention was newly introduced. The entire system has adapted to the new system.”

The introduction of the EKOEXCEL programme has dramatically improved the teacher pupil interaction experience as witnessed with an internet sensation, Mrs Fauziyah Shade Adegeye, also known as Teacher Shade, who was observed in a viral video, motivating primary 5 pupils of Ebenezer Primary school to preserve, work-hard and be resilient on the road to success using her newly acquired skills from EKOEXCELs’ pedagogy

Comrade Hassan is also joyous about EKOEXCEL and the collaborative nature of its operations

“There is proper coordination and synergy among the stakeholders; the EKOEXCEL Team, SUBEB, and NUT give time for evaluation of the process. The interactions allow for joint operations evaluation, and the key learnings are being adopted ”

The Union Leader is so confident of EKOEXCEL’s impressive strides, which were also acknowledged at the just concluded 2022 Education World Forum (EWF) in Britain, the United Kingdom, that he doesn’t foresee a stoppage in its operations even if a new government comes on board in Lagos He described the preintervention era as a period no stakeholder, government, teachers, parents and pupils wanted to return to

In the future, the NUT Chair wants more collaboration with EKOEXCEL to plan and execute an annual lecture for teachers and education development because it is the future

“The future is knowledge-based, so parents should strive to educate their children because it is the key to a greater future Advanced nations reached their current levels based on knowledge and quality education, not just certificates but practical, rigorous education. That’s where we want to be headed,” Hassan stated.

Lagoswillalwayspromotechildrightsinitiatives,saysSanwo-Olu

2nd June 2022

Lagos State will keep embarking on series of initiatives and intervention programmes in a bid to promote the Child Right Protection Law in line with the goal of the Universal Children’s Day.

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who stated this at this year Children Day celebration in Lagos, said his administration’s initiative is aimed at to improving child welfare, promote and celebrate children’s rights and promote togetherness and awareness among children

He noted that his administration recognised the role education plays in ensuring a better future of the children

The governor, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Folashade Jaji, said the theme for this year’s celebration, “A Better Future for Every Child”, was apt as it highlights the principles of the convention on the rights of the child that all children, irrespective of their status and present global situation, should enjoy their rights to survival and development for a better future.

Sanwo-Olu lamented that presently, children are falling victims of many social vices like child abuse, rape, drug abuse, hard labour, violence and others

“They are denied opportunity to enjoy healthy life, parents love and commitment and other childhood happiness Children’s day celebration gives us an opportunity to reflect and renew our commitment to build a society that will guarantee for them a better future,” he said

As part of the state efforts to improve teaching and learning in primary and secondary schools, he said his

administration embarked on and commissioned over 1,449 projects covering 1,036 schools across all 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs. The projects, he explained, include construction, renovation, and rehabilitation of dilapidated public schools and supply of composite units of furniture to schools, among other infrastructure projects

As a testament to this huge investment, the performance of our students with a minimum of 5 credits including Mathematics and English in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination has improved from 38.79% in 2020 to 80% in 2021.

"Through the Eko Excel Programme initiated by our government, we have trained over 15,000 primary school teachers and empowered over 450,000 pupils with personal E-Learning Devices

“We have transformed teaching and learning in all our public primary schools with the aid of technology We have also intensified efforts through the Project Zero Programme to curb the rate of out of school children and bring them back to school as our administration has zero tolerance for Out of School Children

“Our administration is desirous of empowering students with requisite skills for a self-reliant future by providing a suitable path for them based on their skill competence.

“In furtherance of this, I am glad to inform you that we have commenced the comprehensive school programme for secondary school students in 12 schools across the state in the pilot phase The comprehensive school model provides opportunity for students to learn range of vocational skills alongside normal school curriculum The students are not selected based on academic aptitude but vocation and skills interest We intend increasing the schools to 50 before the end of the year

“Our administration will continue to invest in the education of our children and will not relent in maintaining our several educational programmes introduced to develop and boost our human capital, making teaching and learning conducive,” the governor said.

Sanwo-Olu reminded the children that education remains the veritable means of attaining greatness as it helps to prepare individuals for life’s challenges

2022Children’sDay:LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELseeks morecooperationfromparents,guardians

28th May 2022

As Lagos Moves To Boost Safety In Schools With SSLAG, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, yesterday stressed that the government, parents and guardians owe children a duty to ensure that their dreams and aspirations are realised through continuous training, guidance and mentoring.

This was even as the state has launched the Safe Schools Lagos Project (SSLAG) to boost the safety of children in schools

Speaking at the 2022 Children’s Days parade and rally, Sanwo-Olu implored parents and guardians to protect them from all harm by providing better childhood to give them a promising future

Represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mrs Folasade Jaji, Sanwo-Olu said: “Therefore, I urge you parents/guardians to inculcate the right values in them which will enable them to shun all social vices I pray that they will continue to be a source of joy to you all and our great state.

It gives me great pleasure to felicitate with our promising children and future leaders of our great state and nation. The sight of children especially my amiable and promising pupils and students of Lagos State is always a source of joy to me. Today’s gathering remains a day dedicated to celebrating childhood and giving honour to all children who are the leaders of tomorrow.

"Every year, Children’s Day is celebrated with great enthusiasm worldwide The theme for this year’s celebration, “A Better Future for Every Child” is quite apt as it highlights the principles of the convention on the rights of the child that all children irrespective of their status and present global situation should enjoy their rights to survival and development for a better future "

The governor noted that currently, children were falling victims to many social vices like child abuse, rape, drug abuse, hard labour and violence

“They are denied the opportunity to enjoy a healthy life, parents’ love and commitment and other childhood happiness. Children’s Day celebration gives us an opportunity to reflect and renew our commitment to building a society that will guarantee them a better future However, the state is continuously embarking on a series of initiatives and intervention programmes in a bid to promote the Child Right Protection Law in line with the goal of the Universal Children’s Day to improve child welfare, promote and celebrate children’s rights and promote togetherness and awareness amongst all children,” he added

The administration, in line with its THEMES agenda, recently inaugurated the Safe Schools Lagos (SSLAG) project

The Lagos State Safety Commission (LSC) in collaboration with five other Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), namely, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (Lagos SUBEB); the Ministry of Special Duties; Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA); the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Education, is driving the project

The Lead Consultant for the project is SchoolRun Academy Ventures, which has developed the content while the Technology Partner is Telnet Nigeria Ltd The launch was closely followed by the knowledge transfer training event at the Lagoon School, Lekki about a month ago

“SSLAG is the conceptual framework for safety in Lagos schools. It is a novel concept through which the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSC) aims to implement a proactive safety and security framework for schools and allied establishments in Lagos State It covers facility access control, school transport management, staff background checks, and knowledge transfer to staff and education stakeholders amongst others All these activities are coordinated through the SSLAG digital platform developed by Telnet, the technology partner,” the administration explained

Speaking during the SSLAG training programme in Lagoon School, the CEO of SchoolRun Academy, Dr Bisi Esuruoso, revealed the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for attaining a satisfactory, good or excellent rating for schools under the SSLAG compliance drive.

The KPIs, she said, include schools being free from pests and no broken louvers, with safe recruitment checks conducted on all teachers and members of staff, among others

“SSLAG is calling all of us to make sure that our children are safe The 12 minimum standards must be met by all-day schools and an additional eight standards met by schools with boarding facilities,” she said She stated that schools must be made to understand safety issues “When children are displaying certain behaviour, professional educators are supposed to be able to discern the signs and seek further help from other professionals as appropriate.

“Teachers are reminded that they must not bully children that are placed under their care. Instead teachers should understand how to boost the children’s confidence,” she added

Lagoon School Lekki, Lagos has been named the first school to commence the compliance journey and may well be poised to attain the Beacon of Safety Status in Lagos State

2022Children’sDay:LASUBEB’sEKOEXCELseeks morecooperationfromparents,guardians

“They have always been supportive, but we want more from them.I recall that during the COVID-19 enforced lockdown in 2020, parents cooperated well with us to ensure the success of our EKOEXCEL@home initiative, which provided continued access to learning during the pandemic

“The more we want from them now is in terms of after-school care for our pupils They should assist them in revising, doing their homework, and resisting sending them on errands that will prevent them from resting and studying

27th May 2022

Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s, LASUBEB, EKOEXCEL has stressed the need for more cooperation from parents and guardians in raising educated children who will fare well in the 21stcentury knowledge-based economy and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s growth as adults.

LASUBEB Board Chairman, Wahab

Alawiye-King, who is presently in Britain, the United Kingdom, where he’s attending the 2022 Education World Forum (EWF) featuring education ministers from over 100 countries, international organisations and Non-Governmental Organisations, made the call in commemoration of this year’s

Children’s Day

While acknowledging the complementary roles of parents and guardians in fulfilling its mission of improving learning outcomes among pupils and developing professional competencies of teachers and school administrators with innovative technology, Alawiye-King, added that the EKOEXCEL programme would do more with parents’ support and cooperation.

He noted that since its inauguration in 2019, EKOEXCEL has recorded remarkable achievements, including moving over 18,000 headteachers and teachers from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula.

“This is the area of cooperation we want from them It will be wasted efforts if they get home and start going on errands that will prevent them from resting and going over what they were taught in school Revising will help their academic development while adequate rest will also boost their physical and mental development.”

The LASUBEB Board boss, who reiterated EKOEXCEL’s commitment to excellence, felicitated with the children with assurrances that Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration would prioritise their welfare and education

“The intervention has also aided uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum as teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across Lagos’ public primary schools,” he said

According to Alawiye-King, “We appreciate our parents and guardians for their support in ensuring that the efforts of the Lagos State Government on our lovely children through EKOEXCEL are not wasted.

“Apart from its positive impacts on teachers, EKOEXCEL has significantly increased pupils learning outcomes and drastically reduced the number of out-of-school children in the state by enrolling them in schools through the ‘Leave No Child Behind’ policy

“The EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed that EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement,” he said.

The 2022 edition of the Children’s Day celebration is being held at the Parade ground of the Ikeja Police College.

Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme. It has also enhanced the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools.

EKOEXCELshowcasestransformationsinLagospublic primaryschoolsat2022EducationWorldForum

Launched in 2019, EKOEXCEL has made laudable/noteworthy achievements since then Over 18,000 headteachers and teachers have been moved from analogue to digital teaching, using tablets and updated curricula Over 14,000 primary school teachers from 1,011 public primary schools have been captured under the scheme. The education reform programme has also recorded remarkable gains in enhancing the teacher-pupil interaction experience through technology (eLearning) in Lagos State primary schools.

26th May 2022

Lagos State’s impressive strides in transforming public primary education by introducing modern pedagogical and technical skills to manage school systems, improve learning outcomes, and develop professional competencies are on showcase at the ongoing Education World Forum (EWF) in Britain, the United Kingdom

This year’s edition of EWF themed ‘Education: building forward together; stronger, bolder, better’ featuring heads of states, education, and skills ministers is holding two years after the last in-person edition in 2020. Education ministers from over 100 countries as well as international organizations and Non-Governmental Organizations, are gathered to discuss how technology, artificial intelligence and experience can be leveraged to strengthen education systems and economies worldwide Discussions will also include how countries can develop their education systems with limited resources

Executive Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education (LASUBEB) Board, Wahab AlawiyeKing and the Board’s Director of Administration and Human Resources, Mrs TaiyeOguntona, are representing EKOEXCEL at the forum. EKOEXCEL’s counterpart

programme in Edo State, EdoBEST was represented by the Edo State Commissioner for Education, Dr Joan OsaOviawe and the Chair, Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, Mrs Ozavize Salami

EKOEXCEL’s participation is significant because governments in Nigeria are looking for new solutions to re-build the education system against the backdrop of the recent disclosure by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) about the poor learning outcomes in Nigeria’s primary education. Education activists have always complained about the poor budgetary allocation to education in federal and state budgets as well as inadequate teacher training and outdated teaching methods, some of which the international UNICEF touched upon in assessments of the poor education prospects in Nigeria

One in every five of the world’s out-ofschool children is in Nigeria, with an estimate of over 10 million such children in Nigeria with Lagos State having over 2 million of that negative statistic There seems to be light at the end of this neverending dark tunnel with Governor Sanwoolu’s determination to change the narrative with the introduction of Project Zero, a public-privatepartnership initiative to fund education for out-of-school children and the EKOEXCEL programme.

The transformational intervention has also aided uniformity and strict adherence to the curriculum Teachers’ tablets are preloaded with lessons and content that can be effectively monitored for standardisation across Lagos’ 1,011 public primary schools Commendably, all the achievements are not just based on conjectures They are factual, as the EKOEXCEL 2020-2021 Endline Fluency and Numeracy Evaluation showed EKOEXCEL pupils are making remarkable progress in oral reading fluency and foundational numeracy compared to their last performance before the initiative’s commencement

To cushion the effect of the pandemic on Lagos State Public primary school pupils, the Lagos State government launched the EKOEXCEL@home initiative, which ensured continued access to learning The @home programme consisted of self-study activity packets, learning guides, interactive audio sessions, zoom classes, WhatsApp quizzes as well as the distribution of 450,000 mp3s with pre-recorded lessons

This year’s theme is a follow-up to the last EWF in 2020, which focused on developing children’s digital literacy Therefore, participants are expected to collaborate and discuss the intersection of technology and education toward achieving progress

Buildingforwardtogetherthrougheducation

Disadvantaged groups and emerging economies were worst impacted as inequality in access to digital learning opportunities – and therefore the ability to learn from home – became more obvious

23rd May 2022

Two years after the last in person edition of the Education World Forum (EWF), Heads of State education and skills ministers have another opportunity to compare notes and strategize for growth.

EWF 2022 is important not only because of the large number of Political and thought leaders it attracts, but also because of the theme and focus of deliberations –Education: building forward together; stronger, bolder, better Nigeria will be one of the most influential countries at the Education World Forum this year, for the reason that – unlike many others – some of its State Governors have implemented education transformation programmes designed to deliver better opportunities for their youth

Attending this 2022 EWF conference, from Nigeria are the Commissioner for Education, Edo State Dr. Joan Osa Oviawe and Executive Chairman Edo State Universal Basic Education Board, Mrs. Ozavize Salami who will

share with the world the success of Edo State’s basic education transformation project, Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) Also, at this year’s EWF conference is the Executive Chairman Lagos State Universal Basic Education (LASUBEB) Board Hon Wahab

Alawiye-King supported by Mrs Taiye Oguntona, Director Administration and Human Resources, LASUBEB who are expected to share the giant strides achieved by the EKO Excellence in Child Education and Learning (EKOEXCEL), Lagos state’s education transformation project

Many Governments are looking for new solutions that will help them not only rebuild their education systems and combat the learning losses that have impacted their populations but build back better –putting in place systems that drive learning and enable success Nigeria is showcasing them Undoubtedly, the pandemic exposed the fragility of many aspects of public systems as it brought to the fore the need to deal headlong with long-standing and emerging challenges facing education systems For instance, by April 2020, circa 91% of the global student population (1 6 billion students) were impacted by school shutdowns.

In Nigeria, a handful of novel initiatives bridged the gap during the pandemic A sterling example is EdoBEST@Home Initiated by EdoBEST (a state government basic education sector reform programme), EdoBEST@Home kept hundreds of pupils in both well-served and underserved communities learning through over 800 virtual WhatsApp classrooms and a mobile phone-based interactive quiz system available to pupils in urban and hard-to-reach areas In Lagos, EKOXCEL (the flagship transformation programme in the State) implemented the largest tech roll out in Africa, delivering nearly half a million MP3 players to pupils to support remote learning

As leaders press forward to try and achieve SDG4, all hands must be on deck to tackle education sector fault lines that were made more obvious by the pandemic The United Nations notes that 20 years of education gains were wiped out by the pandemic 2030 is just 8 years away

Inequality, inefficient school networks, poorly supported teachers and out of school factors are systemic barriers that education sector policy makers continue to grapple with in many countries. This needs to be addressed or development and economic growth will remain elusive

To “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all,” models that work in the global south must be placed on the table at EWF 2022 and adopted creatively in developed and emerging economies

In Nigeria, the EdoBEST, EkoEXCEL and KwaraLEARN programmes have been identified as leading examples of how the support of technical partners can deliver state-wide public education transformation in a prudent, accelerated and efficient manner Backed by a technical partner –NewGlobe – with the necessary pedagogical and technical skills to manage a modern school system, improve learning outcomes and develop teacher professional competences have drastically improved in the three Nigerian states that own the programmes

First in line was Edo, which owns the EdoBEST programme As news and evidence of progress in the system became more pervasive, the Lagos state government, and more recently, Kwara state adopted home-grown versions of the EdoBEST programme

In each of the states, teachers now have the necessary skills to integrate digital technology into the learning process in more than 1,300 public schools in Edo state and more than 1,000 public schools in Lagos. These public-school systems, which were performing far below their potential, have been upgraded and are ensuring that digital technology provides equitable and inclusive access to education

As expected, EWF 2022 will focus on new thinking in planning and development of education systems to support individual and collective resilience that promotes economic development Indeed, as education systems emerge from the lull of the past few months, it is important to compare notes and examine how thought leaders are finding, or have found, ways to build resilience for their education systems and people

The forum will provide an opportunity to highlight the contribution that education can or should make in economies. For countries like Nigeria, which has 10 million out-of-school children, and an estimated 70million pupils who are in school but are not learning, state governments have to take notice of homegrown solutions which work, and adopt them

By absorbing the details of showcased programs, and learning from countries like Nigeria that have taken their education destinies in their hands, delegates will take home concrete ideas on how to build a stronger, bolder and better future for the millions of citizens who have come to know that there is a complex nexus between education and sustained economic growth

HowSanwo-Oluisrevamping educationinLagos–Wahab

19th May 2022

Mr. Tokunbo Wahab is the Special Adviser to Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu on Education. In this interview to mark his 50th birthday, he x-rayed the numerous achievement and successes the current government has recorded in the area of education in Lagos.

For two years and nine months, we had set out to change the narrative as encapsulated in the agenda of the Governor, where you have education in the middle and with education, we must work the monstrous work that has to be done From primary to secondary which is where the honorable commissioner holds forth and then to tertiary. The Governor didn’t hold anything back, he started from the foundation. From day one, he said to us “let’s go to the primary

schools”, “why are we like this? what’s happening here?” And the Governor approved the EKOEXCEL project and for secondary schools, long term reforms were introduced and I can speak to the fact that the WAEC result of this year rose from 29% to 79% courtesy of the reform carried out by the Ministry of Education through TESCOM

LASU became a global brand by virtue of our collaboration with Conel, one of the ivy leagues in the world We didn’t stop at that because we know LASU had invitations in respect to carrying capacity for admission seekers and our theory is that for you to have proper education, you must have access to education and you must have proper education; they have to go together.

To that end, I want to thank the Governor thank my colleagues in exco and thank my honorable Speaker of the Lagos State

House of Assembly, Honorable Mudashiru Obasa, who with the House, deemed it fit that this executive bill is timely, is expeditious and saw to it that the law was passed timely and then, we accented to it February 8 this year. On February 11th, we were in Abuja to get to license from NUC. So, technically speaking, we have three universities in Lagos State; one conventional university and two specialized universities Now, these are legacies that would mark out Mr Governor’s tenure in many years to come If you know the history of LASU, LASU will be 40 years next year, serving a population that’s about 22 million, the conventional centre of the country and the fifth largest economy in Africa It goes to common sense and good vision to say it’s time for Us to have a new tech here, a new process More so, when we heard two of these institutions were not doing well, NCE has become outdated, then we had to create something that is new, creative and acceptable. That also took the burden off LASU into these two new systems and then for the former polytechnic that is now a university for science and technology, is only very timely for those that know the history of the dichotomy and discrimination between the university and polytechnic graduates

Beyond that, we are doing real projects, we are revving up a technology space, an IT space So for that also is very timely While these are going on, we also had interventions; as at the close of the last year, we had 243 library interventions, libraries that were updated and upgraded with IT learning facilities to go with them in our schools That means we take up public schools, give them a new library, put conventional books, and then set up a proper IT infrastructure within that same library. So that gives the hybrid of using a system for soft copy or through the normal system of reading hardcovers and we have done 243 and I know we are doing 60 now to add to the number. Our target is, by the end