Addressing the teachers, Mr Obaseki acknowledged the significance of the event, saying, “This has been truly inspirational and a very good way to end this celebration of education in Edo State. We have said it all this week, my message is that as you go back to your various schools, I hope that you will be energised.” He also added that the citizens should use the measures put in place to judge the efforts of his successor in sustaining the educational reforms he started.
Speaking with journalists after the service, Governor Obaseki emphasised the achievements of his administration, which has judiciously used resources to reenact education in Edo State. “It is unfair to expect that in five years we would have solved problems that have accumulated for more than two or three generations. What we have done is to start the process, set the direction and hope that the citizens will hold the government accountable and responsible to ensure that they deliver on what to expect within available resources because somebody needs to pay for it.”
He also outlined the progress made and the expectations of the last phase of the project, which is to have measures for learning outcomes after all the investments in education. “Infrastructure is a given, and between May 1 and September 1 next year all the funding I used to put into SEEFOR for roads will now go into secondary schools and this is in excess of 6 billion Naira for secondary schools alone. Because unlike with basic education, we don’t have Federal Support for Secondary schools. We can’t finish all of them but we have started by putting in place a financing plan.”
The Edo Education Week, which was aimed at celebrating the achievements and successes of the state’s education sector, and consolidating support for the successes to be sustained, had numerous activities such as a teacher’s summit, a technical panel, debate competitions, poetry and art contests, and a talent show, among others. The week-long event provided an opportunity for stakeholders in the education sector to deliberate on the solutions to some of the challenges facing the sector and to solidify support for long term progress.
