FCT Board Seeks Support For Free, Compulsory Education

Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) has sought support and collaboration with critical stakeholders to enhance the standard of education in the nation’s capital.

The acting chairman of the board, Alhaji Alhassan Sule, made the appeal when he received the Head-to-Head Debate Committee members when the team sought for synergy with the acting director of Reform Coordination and Service Improvement Department.

In his remarks, Sule said, “The Head-to-Head Debate is mainly aimed at bringing children from the grassroots to serve as ambassadors to their various communities to clear the misconception on western education and about girl-child education.

“We have started identifying children from local communities with the help of the head teachers. These children would also serve as ambassadors to spread the news that free but compulsory education is actually free without anyone paying a kobo and yet compulsory.”

Sule added that the debate was aimed at bringing out-of-school children back to school through the advocacy of “Free but Compulsory Education”. He said the debate had been effective in this regard as enrolment had increased in schools.

He, however, said these activities require a huge financial and infrastructural commitment which the FCT UBEB cannot bear alone.

“For instance, the reality show competition we intended to televise was not possible because we camped the children in their various schools and then whenever they were needed, they’ll rush down to their schools again, but if there was a well-equipped facility, we would do everything we need to do in one space without moving about and without the worry about insecurity and others,” he said.

He, therefore, appealed to Dr Jumai Ahmadu to help get the commitment of the FCTA and all SDAs of the FCTA to ensure a productive initiative, giving the assurance that it would not only produce responsible Nigerians but would also give a good image to the administration in the global world “because as I speak, we have a project ongoing in Karashi, for a school where all learning activities would be digitized, this would bring the FCT and in fact Nigeria up to date on global educational trends and standards.”

The secretary of the Head-to-Head Committee, Mr Kalu Ifeanyi, in his remarks, explained that the committee plans on carrying out a number of activities that would involve students and schools from the suburbs, adding that these activities included debates, essay writing, science exposure, literary competitions and a reality TV show to crown it all.

He emphasised that rather than being carried away by Big Brother Naija (BBN) and the likes, children would get better educational content from the reality TV show involving students from different schools and backgrounds.

In her response, Dr Jumai Ahmadu, the acting director of the RC&SI Department, applauded the initiative and reiterated that “I am sure that this initiative would turn out to be a pilot scheme which other states would take a cue from.”