The Executive Chairman of Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board (RSUBEB), Port Harcourt, Ven Fyneface Akah, says the review of the 2006/2007 National Policy on Gender Education Implementation Guidelines in Nigeria has taken longer than expected.
Akah stated that the RSUBEB attaches great importance to the issue of gender education as regards female education, which, according to him, has brought sense of inclusion in the education-for-all policy of Rivers State Government.
He stated this when he received in audience, in his office in Port Harcourt, recently, a team of researchers on the implementation of the National Policy on Gender Education from the Federal Ministry of Education, who are presently in the state on data gathering and assessment of the policy in the state.
He disclosed that RSUBEB had been concerned about gender issues and inclusive education, saying that there was still need for separation in the policy and practice of inclusive education.
According to him, the challenges of gender education were on the positive side, especially with the girl-child, who appears to be doing even better than the boy-child enrollment, completion and transition.
The state RSUBEB boss assured the visitors of the needed support to enable them deliver on the assignment they have come to do in the state, given the number of learners and personnel in the board, and added that findings in the UBE sub-sector could be extrapolated for the whole state.
Earlier in his speech, the team leader of the group, Dr Benjamin Igbeaku intimated the board chairman on the reason why they were in the state, adding that they would interact with relevant stakeholders to gather data on the implementation of the National Policy on Gender Education.
According to him, the exercise was being supported by the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), adding that while carrying out their assignment they would use questionnaires, and interact with focus groups drawn from head teachers and directors, among others.