Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission UBEC, Dr Hamid Bobboyi, has said that billions of naira given to state governors for intervention programmes on annual basis has not reflected improved basic education delivery at state levels in Nigeria.
He disclosed that each state receives an average of N1.5 billion for funding of basic education from UBEC every year, which add up to N3 billion with payment of matching grant, but the amount does not adequately rub-off on learning achievements in schools.
He spoke made at a two-day International Workshop on Large Scale Assessment for Basic Education organised by the agency in collaboration with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Abuja.
He said:”billions of naira being channeled into the basic education sector by the Commission has not adequately correlated with learning outcomes.You know UBEC is an intervention agency; it provides resources. In a good year, apart from 2020 that was affected by COVID, we dispense billions every year. A state gets a minimum of about N1.5 billion and at least N3 billion (as a whole) on a yearly basis.
” But at the end of the day you start wondering – the money and resources going to these states and agencies that are implementing basic education. How much of it goes down to the level of the classroom and making a difference in teaching and learning?Because it worries one. We measure our success by how much of money we are able to give out. We have dispensed this, we have done that, and so on.We have dispensed textbooks to states and SUBEBs will wait for UBEC to pay for transportation of these books to various schools and most of the time the textbooks are locked up in the headmasters’ offices awaiting instructions from their ministries on what to do with them.”
Bobboyi also disclosed that plans are on to conduct a national assessment survey to ascertain learning outcomes in the basic education sector.
He said the 2021/2022 National Assessment on Learning Achievements in Basic Education (NALABE ) will also evaluate the impact of the multi-billion naira annual interventions at the basic education level.
Bobboyi who made reference to a report which posited that actual learning at the pre-primary and primary school levels is four years, said stakeholders in the education sector need to do more to boost learning in schools in the country.
