By Magnus Emuji
Delta State Commissioner for Primary Education, Dr. Kingsley Ashibogwu has sued for a more robust partnership with relevant educational bodies and organizations geared towards upscaling meaningful educational development in the state.
Ashibogwu stated this in Asaba when the Delta/South-South Coordinator of Civil Society Action Coalition Education For All (CSACEFA) led members of the organization on an advocacy visit to the Commissioner.
He lauded the organization for its proposed intervention in the education system.
Ashibogwu said that as a foremost non-governmental organization, it should in the course of monitoring government activities be able to advise on areas that need to be improved upon, especially in the area of increasing the education budget allocation.
In their separate remarks, the Directors of Administration in the Ministry, Mr. Henry Odum, Director of Science Education, Mrs. Hope Igumbor, Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Mr. Anthony Akponovo, their counterpart in charge of Schools Department, Mrs. Ighavbota Winifred as well as the Director of Finance and Accounts, Mr. Daniel Akiri urged the organization to be more specific of areas the Ministry could benefit holistically in terms of technical and financial support from the donor agencies.
Earlier, the State Coordinator of CSACEFA, Augusta Impact Keneboh, who doubles as the South-South Coordinator of the organization, said that CSACEFA had been in existence in all states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, for over 2 decades, adding that the organization has international partners.
Keneboh, who said that CSACEFA worked to support Ministries of Education and other related Ministries, hinted that it has been enjoying a good working relationship with the State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB), and Ministry of Women Affairs, especially in the area of girl child development.
She noted that the mandate of CSACEFA was based on advocating for quality education for all by looking at policies of gender in education, safety, security, and violence-free schools, UBEC Act 2004 as well as Agenda 2030 goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals that has to do with access to Inclusive, equitable and quality education for girls and boys.
Keneboh also stated that the organization is usually saddled with the responsibility of monitoring the education budget implementation, fund utilization, and the success of various interventions of the state by going to schools to ascertain the impacts of such interventions.
She stressed the need for the Ministry to domesticate the relevant policy documents and strengthen implementations for the overall benefit of the school-aged children of the state.
The State CSACEFA boss explained that the organization’s key focused areas were to provide support and collaborate with the governments to see how to contribute to driving critical sectors of governance to a greater height.
