The Lagos State Commissioner for Tertiary Education, Hon. Tolani Sule has reiterated the commitment of the administration of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to stem the tide of illiteracy in Lagos state with mass quality education and vocational training for residents of the state.
This assertion was made on Tuesday when he spoke to journalists in his Alausa secretariat office about the government’s efforts to ensure residents of the state acquire quality education and vocational skills.
According to him, aside from the administration’s enormous investment in tertiary education, the government is also putting large resources into the Agency for Mass Education for residents to benefit from skills learning for free from the state government vocational and learning centers across the state.
Hon. Sule said to improve the quality of teaching, the state government has increased the number of facilitators and instructors in the centers and also improved their remuneration for them to re-dedicate themselves and their commitment to duty.
Speaking further, he said the state government has ensured that only qualified graduates and National Certificate of Education holders are recruited as facilitators and instructors to improve the quality of teaching at the centers. According to him, 712 literacy and 8 vocational centers across the state have been supplied with teaching aids, learning materials, furniture, and tools. In addition to providing enabling working environments that will improve learning and teaching in the centers.
Sule said between 2020 and now, over 124,000 students were enrolled and over 115, 000 graduated from the Agency for Mass Education centers within the same period.
The commissioner assured residents of the state that part of the Agency’s objectives is to provide learning opportunities for those who missed the opportunity of regular school for various reasons and for the unemployed to acquire skills in various vocations and skills of their choice for free.
The Commissioner sounds a note of warning to parents, that it is an offense under the child’s rights law in Lagos state for parents not to enroll their children in schools.
In a related development, the commissioner has assured the management of Eko University of Medicine and Health Sciences ( EKO UNIMED) of the ministry’s unflinching support and cooperation towards having a university of medical sciences capable of producing qualified medical personnel for Lagos state and beyond.
He said this during a courtesy visit of the management of the university to the Ministry of Tertiary Education in Lagos on Tuesday.
According to him, the establishment of the university is apt when the population of the state is growing astronomically and the nation is experiencing the movement of its qualified medical personnel to other countries.
The leader of the delegation and also the acting Vice Chancellor of the university, Professor Ejiwunmi assured the commissioner of the readiness of the university to forge partnership with the ministry and the Lagos State government for a successful University of Medicine capable of responding to the health care needs in the state.
It will be recalled that the EKO University of Medicine and Health Sciences is expected to add value to the existing efforts to produce enough medical personnel and improve the healthcare delivery system in Lagos state and Nigeria in general.