The chairman, Senate Committee on basic and secondary education, Senator Akon Eyakenyi, has said the National Personnel Audit will help address challenges of Out of School Children (OOSC) and other challenges facing the education sector.
The Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) is set to begin a personnel audit of all basic education institutions in the country in 2022.
Eyakenyi, who led a delegation to monitor the 2022 national personnel Audit at Government Boys Secondary School, Apo and Gaat International School, Gaduwa, yesterday said the committee has completed the tour of the South South and is now in Northern Nigeria.
She said the essence of the audit is to help planners gather information about the schools that “we have in Nigeria, the number of students, teachers to be able to know if the number of students and teachers in the schools are too much or too low so that one can know what to do next.
“Also to look at the infrastructure. Some schools when you visit you students sitting on the floor and teachers standing to teach and marking.
“These are the issues we are looking into so that one will know how to advise the government, the national assembly particularly. That is why we are concerned.
“This will enable the government to address some of the challenges facing the education sector.
“At the end that will help us to have proper data to also confirm the number of out of school children.”
Speaking further, she said the exercise covers both private and the public schools and concentration is on the primary and the junior secondary ones.
“Other than that this exercise will also help the officers to identify the number of teachers that each school has, if it is commensurate with the number of pupils. The quality of the teachers are also very important, apart that, most importantly, is to ensure that those teachers are registered with TRCN.
“Concerning the out of school children, the insecurity in the nation, children will not go to school, when they get there because of insecurity they are kidnapped and parents don’t want to send their children to school again that has to increase the number of out of school children.”
