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| Professor Mathew Sule |
Our intention is to enhance the tempo of development in Plateau state – Prof Sule
By Joseph A Adudu
April 03, 2019
The re-election of Simon Lalong to
pilot the affairs of Plateau state for another four years would enable him to
consolidate on the achievements he has recorded in the last four years. This was
the submission of Professor Mathew Sule, the Executive Chairman of Plateau
state Universal Basic Education (PSUBEC) in a chat with our man in his office
recently.
Sule who was delighted to be part
of the success story of the Lalong-led administration in the last four years
added that the Governor was re-elected because of his developmental strides within the period.
“I am delighted to be a witness to
the victory of his Excellency. of course in every contest, there must be a
winner and loser but in this, we believe that all of us have won. By and large,
governor Lalong was re-elected because of the tempo of development and I
believe that the electorates must have assessed his performance in the last
four years and that could have prompted the victory that came his way and to all
of us who are working with him. Our prayer and hope is that the tempo of
development be enhanced for the benefit of our people”
On what would be the contribution of his
agency to help actualize the goals of the Lalong- led administration, Prof Sule
said that SUBEB is one of the key components of the Simon Lalong Government
which has also received the much needed attention in the last four years adding
that the Governor too was excited by the modest achievement in SUBEC stressing
that they would continue to support him to ensure that he delivered on his
mandate.
“It’s true that the governor came with an
agenda in his first tenure and I believe we worked assiduously toward achieving
the set goals.
Yes, in his acceptance speech, the
governor said clearly he would continue with his agenda. It was rescue mission
in the first term but now is to consolidate on the gains that have been
achieved so far. Our establishment is one of the key components of this
administration that has also received the needed attention in last four years
and I believe that the governor is going to work harder to achieve more.
"If I say working harder, of course I
am referring to those of us that the Governor has assigned responsibility. In
my own case, this establishment would continue to work very hard to consolidate
on his achievements”.
Speaking in specific terms, the
Chairman highlighted some of the achievement his agency has achieved over the
period to include enrollment which he said has risen significantly.
“We have achieved in the aspect of
enrollment. Enrollment has risen significantly. we have also been able to improve
the condition of infrastructure that was debilitated. You can see that more
classroom blocks have been built, furniture have been procured and supplied, instruction
materials have also been procured and distributed, books of relevance have also
been procured and distributed. We have also bridged the gap between the boys and
girls school enrollment. By doing that, we have succeeded in reducing the
population of out-of-school children in our state, a menace which even the
federal government is also fighting. If you check properly, you would discover that in
plateau state, the number of school drop out is not significant compare to other states
particularly those state in the North East and other parts of the North.
“We also inherited the learners population
in public primary schools because the literacy rate was very low but we have
worked hard to make sure that aspect is redressed and we were able to remedy
that situation”
Sule said that the agency has equally improved
on monitoring and ensured regular payment of teachers’ salaries which has also
served as a motivator. “Promotions have been implemented; more teachers have
been employed and posted. Rural schools have also been improved upon because we
have not paid attention to only urban schools but to rural schools too that is
why we posted those teachers to rural schools and we have been monitoring them.
"Even in hard areas where hitherto could not
be accessed now can be accessed. We bought vehicles and distributed to the 17
LEAs. The LEAS now have the opportunity to access those hard areas for the
purpose of monitoring.
"And that means that now, there is no more difference
between the urban and rural schools. What you find in the urban schools you
also find in the rural schools”. He stated that teaching and learning were also
going unhindered and pursued effectively and efficiently.
Professor Sule said the reward of
these efforts started manifesting recently when pupils in Plateau state came
first ahead other states of the federation including FCT after receiving a
training hinged on five component areas. “So, you can see that our efforts are not really
in vain, it means we are moving forward. Because all the states were assessed
and plateau is found to be the best, then something good is indeed happening in
our state. We want to authenticate and to validate that, so an independent assessor
is coming to be able to look at it again and re-assure us that indeed the
report we have gotten is a correct one”.
He said the state looking forward
to an education system which standard would be of high quality to the envy of
all. “Hitherto, the performance level has been very low but from what that has happened;
we expect to see children doing well in national public examinations”.
The chairman said other areas of
concerned which is already taking care of by government is ensuring that children
that are not able to enrolled, retained and completed school are taken care of
the government including those children
who have lost both parents and are in the IDPs camps.
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| Prof. Sule |
“Government is concerned about
these categories of children and is putting in place strategies to address it
so as to bring respite or remediation to these children”. He said that basic
education is free and that government wanted to ensure that it actually remains free because according to him, no
child should be kept at home on account of poor family background, economic
condition or whatever consideration.
“The governor and I are all product
of public school and so, we cannot allow the situation to deteriorate to an unbearable
level, so, we want the children and all those in public schools to cooperate
with us”. Sule further said that government has revitalized the teaching of
agriculture to make it more practical and more attractive to children so that
as they grow up, they would not be detached from agriculture.
“You all know that apart from oil, agriculture
remains the main stay of our economy and it would remain so even after the oil
fields dry someday. So, we would teach our children to look at agriculture with
a lot of passion.
“We must utilize our ideas using
our intellect, so that we can properly occupy and not frustrated. The young
people are getting frustrated today because they have not taken advantage of
what is in their environment”.
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