The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced the process of developing Guidelines on National Education Quality Assurance Policy to further strengthen quality education delivery.
To come up with a robust policy, the Department of Education Quality Assurance Services, Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) assembled stakeholders for a Workshop at Nasarawa State on Wednesday.
The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr Folasade Yemi- Esan, in a speech told the gathering that the present outcome in terms of learner’s performance as evidenced by public examination results below tertiary level still leaves much to be desired.
He said it did not justify government’s huge investment in education.
“There is therefore no better time than now, for all stakeholders to come together for the production of implementation guidelines on the National Education Quality Assurance policy (NEQAP).
“It will ensure a unified and informed approach to Education Quality Assurance practices,” she said.
The Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director of Tertiary Education Department, Mrs Hindatu Abdullahi, stated that the 60th National Council on Education, held at Abeokuta in 2014, had approved the development of the policy implementation guidelines.
She commended the commitment of the Federal Government to education delivery, as demonstrated in the 2016 Budget and the plan to recruit and train about 500,000 teachers for the basic education level as well as the proposed school feeding programme.
Dr. Yemi-Esan acknowledged the challenges being faced by the FEQAS zonal and state offices and pledged to address them in due course.
She also commended international partners for their supportive roles in the education sector.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Director of Education Quality Assurance Services, Mrs Fatima Ahmed, said that the workshop was a follow up to the adoption of Quality Assurance approach to inspections and subsequent production of the Quality Assurance policy.
She explained that the Implementation Guideline being developed would provide clear direction for Inspectors to operationalise the policy.
Earlier on Monday, the Nigerian Union of Teachers called on the Federal Government to recruit only qualified candidates in the 500,000 teachers it promised to employ this year.
The appealed was made on Wednesday by the NUT President, Mr Michael Olukoya, at a meeting of the union in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.