Rivers State Unveils New Education Policy

The Rivers State Government last week unveiled a new education policy, which was presented to stakeholders in the education sector during a one-day stakeholders' forum on education policies.

With the theme "Towards Sustainable Development in Education," the policy document was prepared by the Rivers State Ministry of Education.

The state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Alice Lawrence-Nemi, during her welcome address, said the formulation of the education policy was to guide and direct all players and stakeholders in the education enterprise so as to achieve the desired goals and objectives.

Lawrence-Nemi noted that the new policy treated some emerging and peculiar issues to the system in Rivers State.

She revealed that education sector in the state will never again remain insufficiently guided.

Lawrence-Nemi noted that there had been a lot of developments in the sector that have made a review of the policy inevitable.

"We are therefore presenting to you, the relevant stakeholders in education in Rivers State, this new policy for your careful perusal, consideration and meaningful in-put, so that at the end, what comes out of the grill as the Rivers State Education Policy 2012 will be a consensus document aimed at satisfying the educational aspirations of both government (service provider) and the public (service consumers).

"Let us put our heads and hands together to lift education to its highest level in terms of infrastructure, management and consequently quality in Rivers State, after all, education for all is the responsibility of all," Lawrence-Nemi said.

In the meantime, the Rivers State Government has said it had set a minimum standard for both public and private schools to ensure the delivery of quality education in the state.

The state governor, Mr. Chibuike Amaechi, made the declaration at the presentation of the draft document of the State Education Policy 2012 and the state school-based management committee's policy and guidebook at a one-day forum in Port Harcourt.

Amaechi, who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Mr. George Feyii, said while the state had succeeded in putting in place solid infrastructure, there was need to ensure the content of education in the state.

According to the governor, "A lot has been done in the past few years with respect to infrastructural component for education delivery; we have done a lot of structural input at the primary and secondary levels, even at the tertiary level with the building of a brand new campus for the Rivers State University of Science and Technology. There has also been increased funding to our educational institutions.

"We recognise that infrastructure is one component of what we require to get the educational sector functional. We know that we have to shift emphasis to the content with respect to curriculum and all of that, and also very importantly, in order to guarantee quality, monitoring and supervision."

In a communiqué issued at the end of the forum, stakeholders commended the state government for its investment in the education sector and advocated for the establishment of teacher's resource centre and inclusion of teacher's welfare in the new policy.

The communiqué, which was signed by Lawrence-Nemi, also stressed the need for government to include guidance and counselling as part of educational services to the people.

The stakeholders also called for the inclusion of the study of history in primary and secondary schools.

The participants at the forum commended the government for its efforts to boost Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET), stressing that time had come for private sector partnership with government in the establishment of TVET institution across the state.

According to them, TVET would be a pivot for training of technologists and engineers that would be the hallmark of the state's technological growth.

The stakeholders' forum which was organized by the State Ministry of Education with the theme, "Towards Sustainable Development in Education", advocated for creation of gifted and talented children schools in all the local government areas in the state.

The migrant fisher-folks education also engaged the attention of the participants at the forum in which they unanimously agreed that the children of the migrant fisher -folks should be educated like their counterparts in the urban areas.

The forum was attended by a total of 399 stakeholders'.

The education policy will be officially unveiled at the 2013 Rivers State Education Summit which will take place in Government House, Port Harcourt on March 25 to 26, 2013.

The Permanent Secretary, Rivers State Ministry of Education, Dr. Richard Ofuru, thanked the stakeholders that participated at the forum.

He said that the ministry will ensure that all their contributions at the forum will never be in vain.