Lagos and The Revival of Public Education
Good and wellstructured educational system is one of the vital factors in the socioeconomic development of any nation. Education is regarded as critical instrument in the battle against poverty and ignorance. It empowers the individual with necessary knowledge and set of skills to actualise potential and maximise opportunities in life. It is for this reason that governments across the world devote a good chunk of available resources to the development of the educational sector.
In Nigeria, Lagos is arguably the state with the highest number of public schools, students and teachers. It has consistently been churning out the highest number of candidates for public examinations in Nigeria since 1967. As a melting point with a bourgeoning population in excess of 24 million, provision of qualitative education in Lagos State has been a daunting task.
However, one peculiarity about Lagos as with other mega cities is that work and investment on infrastructure as well as human and physical development is always work in progress. The current administration in the state clearly understands that the task of making Lagos State “the model of excellence in the provision of education in Africa” requires meticulous attention.
To this end, the sum of N92.4 billion, representing 11.37 was allocated to education sector in the state budget for 2017. Presently, Lagos provides free education to over one million pupils/students in 1,010 primary schools with a population of about 497,318 pupils; 670 Junior and Senior Secondary Schools with a population of about 564,758 students and five technical and vocational schools across the state.
There is nothing we are competent in that does not require deliberate effort, sacrifice or quality time to succeed. The Akinwunmi Ambode- led administration has shown total commitment to the development of the education sector in Lagos State since it came on board in 2015.
The result has been quite visible in the area of infrastructure development in public schools across the state. Presently, new model schools are being constructed across the state with facilities such as football pitch, basketball and lawn tennis courts, classrooms, laboratories, multipurpose halls, libraries and spacious car parks. Some of these new model colleges are Angus Memorial High School, Somolu, Awori College, Ojo and Lagos City College, Sabo-Yaba. The main aim of bringing them on board is to improve teaching and learning in Lagos State.
Similarly, the state government is equally working assiduously to construct new blocks of classrooms in public schools across the state. This is being done along with construction of perimeter fence, construction of watch tower as well as lighting up of schools at night in all the model colleges. Quite a number of these projects had been completed while others are in progress. A few of these new projects has been launched. These include Girls Junior Model College, Agunfoye and a newly constructed block of 20 classrooms at the Anglican Primary School, Isawo in Ikorodu.
Meanwhile, government has directed a policy towards ensuring equal educational opportunity in the state, encouraging parents who might otherwise neglect their children’s education to send their children to school and making education affordable for everyone.
In line with the commitment of the present administration to expand access to knowledge for Lagosians, the state’ science laboratories are now better equipped and the enthusiasm of students to be science inclined has become very high with a lot of success recorded. Equally, the state government has completed the renovation and upgrade of public libraries in 18 secondary schools across the state with top class facilities. Lagos Digital Library, an online repository of education content, was commissioned in 2017.
Governor Akinwunmi Ambode himself had the second best result in WAEC in 1981. It is thus not surprising that his administration is according education the utmost priority in the scheme of things. Cheerfully, the investment of the state government in education is steadily paying off as evident in the performance of the pupils of Lagos state public schools in external and internal examinations and competitions.