How Partnerships Are Closing Education Gap

If there is any sector of the economy where governments at all levels in Nigeria have invested significantly to raise the bar in the much-needed human capital portfolio, it is in the critical area of infrastructure and human capacity development. The result is spiraling collection of educated population across the country.

But very big contributors to this bolstering record in efforts to achieve, if not surpass, targets set as part of the United Nations Millennium  Development Goals (MDGs) are the governments within the oil-rich Niger Delta region. These states include Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Ondo and Rivers. They, without doubt, cover the geographic area where the interventionist agency, the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), is constitutionally mandated to provide fillip for sustainable development.

The NDDC is not the only driver of development in the region.  The multinational oil and gas companies operating in the Niger Delta have also invested huge chunk of money for the overall development of the region. But on the aggregate score, their social spend in building human capacity  has been monumental. Indeed, this score is more conspicuous in the education sector where investments in infrastructure and human capital development are already yielding groundbreaking results. These results are  visible because the companies have genuinely exploited available windows for partnership and synergy with virtually all stakeholders in the development process.

It is this partnership template  from private sector perspective, that the catchment governments are now cashing in on to unleash transformational development never before anticipated. In fact, leading the pack in keying into this development driver is the Rivers State Government under the leadership of Rt Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi.

Of course, Rivers State is an archetype of the 21st Century Centre of Excellence in PPP-driven educational development strategy. The Chibuike Amaechi-led government, in the last four and half years, has invested huge sums of money in strategic partnerships for the development of the education sector, both in the area of infrastructure and human capital. This is because even as the government sat down to articulate an intervention policy to address the education infrastructure deficit with an initiative meant to build, furnish and equip about 750 model primary schools in the 23 local government areas, it factored in a major role for the private sector, especially the major oil and gas companies, in the process. The primary schools are not just all. Even a good percentage of the 23 model secondary schools being executed across the 23 local government areas, also have PPP content. And one major thread that runs through the entire education sector development is Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC). This, indeed, is not surprising!

On assumption of office as Governor,  Amaechi declared a state of emergency in the education sector, and initiated pragmatic policy to populate the state’s landscape with world-class model primary and secondary schools. The primary schools have information and communication technology (ICT)-enabled 14-classroom blocks with an auditorium, e-library, sports facilities, principal and teachers’ offices as well as conveniences.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education in the state, Mr Richard Ofuru, reiterated the government’s vision for building the schools in remarks during the inauguration of the Shell and Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership Learning Centres in Port Harcourt. For him, and indeed, the government, the purpose is to create a convergence centre where indigent and poor pupils and those from wealthy families would acquire basic education  thereby  helping to bridge the yawning gap between the rich and poor in the state. The idea was hinged on the desperate need to remedy the rot and dilapidation that had permeated the sector for decades, and had forced many families to either withdraw their wards from public schools or completely lost hope in the ability of government to revive education sector and thus, re-engineer confidence in a bright future for the state, albeit, Nigeria.

Some of the enablers of this vision are the congenial learning environment, state-of-the-art facilities, spacious classrooms and seating arrangements, 21st Century learning tools, well-educated teaching staff, free tuition fees, accessible environment, and acceptable educational modules. In order to deliver on the vision for building the schools, the government had embarked on training and retraining of teachers to enable them perform effectively in the new technology-driven academic environment.

The permanent secretary was not alone when he touched on the very critical importance of strategic partnerships for sustainable educational development of the state. Ofuru noted that the government has been leveraging on the robust corporate social investment policies of such companies as Shell to lift the education sector to the next level. He catalogued such partnerships to include the Shell/Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership, Cradle-To-Career initiative scholarships through the Global Memorandum of Understanding (GMoU), the Digital Learning Programme, and scholars and teachers’ mentoring initiatives and  the Sustainable Development Clubs, among others.

Now, let us take a critical look at two of these partnerships for instance. First, the Cradle-To-Career Initiative: This programme is a strategic education partnership between the state government and Shell aimed at making first-class access to education available to hard-to-reach children from rural communities in difficult areas of the state. To achieve its objective, Shell since 2010, has been working with the government to select 20 bright children from poor homes leaving public primary schools in rural communities, and putting them in three of the first-category private secondary schools in Nigeria –  Brookstone Secondary School, Jephthah Comprehensive College and now Archdeacon Brown Education Centre, all in Rivers State. Today, 40 students from very indigent families now have their secondary education fully funded by Shell on a scholarship that promises to make them not just competitive in the academic environment, but also functional citizens that can confidently face life and undertake successful careers after secondary school education.And they are doing quite well.  Another 20 are billed to join the ivy class this year.

Perhaps, the objectives of this initiative synchronises with the vision of Governor Amaechi for the education sector in the state. Just take a look: The Cradle-To-Career initiative aims to give disadvantaged but bright students from selected remote communities access to quality education; support the attainment of universal basic education; and develop a solid foundation for the training of quality manpower in the state. The benefits of this are enormous. For one, it would,  provide improved quality of education and learning environment for students from remote communities; opportunity for interaction with students from other backgrounds; and engineer the development of a firm foundation for higher education and sound human resource base for future employment.

Another bold initiative that blends with the Amaechi government’s proactive investment in improving the quality of infrastructure, personnel and students in the primary education sub-sector is the Shell/Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership. In this novel project, the  Ministry of Education is also partnering with the two socially-responsible corporate organisations to take education in the state to the next level. And Ofuru makes no mistake about the conviviality with which the government is savouring the relationship.

But why is the government overwhelmed by this pragmatic approach to human capital development? The reasons are simple: the Shell and Discovery Channel’s Global Education Partnership initiative has adopted 20 of the new model primary schools as veritable tools for re-inventing education in the state, and targets the transformation of no less than 49,315 stakeholders, including 639 teachers, about 12,169 students and 36,500 community members by 2014. This is huge! Already, with the completion of installation of the facilities in 20 schools dotted across five local government areas of the state, 245 teachers have been trained, while 7,050 students are applying the tools in learning, just as over 21,150 community members have improved their skills.

In collaboration with the  Ministry of Education, the initiative promises to impact teaching capacity and raise the bar in integrated educational video programming in the classrooms. The four-year Shell and Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership project has installed television and digital video display (DVD) players, and delivered original award-winning educational video programming and intensive teacher training  on effective integration of locally relevant video content in support of curricular objectives.

The project is already in effective use, with tremendous results on startling improvements in academic performances. Both the teachers and students in the 20 select schools attest to this. A teacher, Dr Margaret Nwagbara is one of the many teachers who have drastically improved on their teaching capacity as a result. She made it clear in a testimonial that justifies the huge investment in the project when she expressed satisfaction with the project content and quality, and the impact it is already making in changing the face of education in the state.

Like Dr Nwagbara, the students are also enthralled by the innovative educational project. And they also made it unequivocally clear in their demonstrations and intelligent testimonies that reveal a determination to maximize the facilities in efforts to enhance their academic performance.

This promise of a faith accompli is the reason why all stakeholders – the state government, Shell, DCGEP, and the host communities – are delighted with the initiative. Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Richard Ofuru made government position clear: “This programme has a good fit with the strategy of the Rivers State Government in the education sector, which has involved an ambitious upgrade of primary and secondary school infrastructure. We are happy that the programme would complement the efforts of the state government in improving teaching and learning in primary schools. Teachers and pupils are advised to take advantage of the opportunities it offers.”

The Managing Director, SPDC, Mutiu Sunmonu, made the company’s feelings known at the launch of the project when he said: “The launching marks the successful start-up of a four-year project to provide, in close collaboration with the Rivers State Ministry of Education, teacher training and support to integrate educational video programming in the classrooms.”

The Discovery Channel Global Education Partnership family is not left out in the excitement over the success story of the learning centres. Their leader, President of the partnership, Aric Noboa, conveyed the conviviality of hearts and minds they share on this project: “the aim is to use the power of media to transform education and improve lives in under-resourced schools and communities around the world.”

Nelson Chukwudi