The Lagos Government has revealed plans to increase the number of Comprehensive Schools across the state from the initial pilot of 12 to 50 by September as part of efforts to equip secondary school students with technical skills.
While disclosing this at a sensitisation programme organised by State Government for stakeholders at the Adeyemi-Bero Auditorium, Alausa, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, said the Comprehensive School Programme is geared towards reducing the rate of dropouts in schools, as some students are disconnected with the usual academic curriculum but prefer to learn technical skills.
She emphasised the importance of integrating the new programme into the curriculum.
The commissioner noted that the comprehensive schools are designed to give technically-inclined students the opportunity to explore their interests and get trained to mastery level.
In her words, “We discovered and observed that out of every 10 students admitted to JS1 only three make it to SS3, while only one student will eventually excel at the transition exam. This has resulted in an increase in student dropouts in Lagos State.”
“The students, under the programme, will be given a mobile tablet preloaded with their curriculum and starter kits to explore their interests and desired skills. Also, the best three students will be sponsored to Finland for more training and exposure,” she added.
Mrs. Adefisayo stated that the present administration has established partnerships with private and international institutions for training, internship opportunities and employment prospects for the students.
Disclosing that an MOU was recently signed by the Lagos State Government and the City of Tampere in Finland, Mrs. Adefisayo said some of the teachers would get an opportunity to visit Finland to understudy a similar system.
The commissioner also commended school principals for the highly impressive results in the last WASSCE, stressing that the performance of students with a minimum of five credits including Mathematics and English has improved from 38.79% in 2020 to 79.64% in 2021.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Abayomi Abolaji, solicited the support of participants and stakeholders to ensure the success of the programme, noting that the state government has equipped the pilot schools with all necessary facilities to ensure the success of the new comprehensive school programme.
Abolaji averred that the school programme has broad subject categories which include skills training in Agriculture, Tech & Digital Skills, Beauty and Events, Building & Construction, Media & Entertainment, Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Communication, Marketing & Sales and Digital Literacy.
Dignitaries at the event included the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King; Tutor-General/Permanent Secretaries of Education Districts – Mrs. Titilayo Solarin, District I; Mr. Sunday Jokotola, District IV; Mr. Charles Olajide, District V; Mrs. Okelola Oludara, District VI; School Principals and other Education Management Teams and Stakeholders in the education sector.
