City Crime
FG, UBEC Give N60m To 30 Communities For Education Dev In Rivers
As part of efforts to enhance community participation in school management policies, the Federal Government through the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) has awarded N60million grants to 30 communities in Rivers State for the development of basic education in their areas.
The Basic Schools Management Committee Policy is a deliberate Federal Government programme designed for critical stakeholders to facilitate community participation in the governance and management of schools in the country.
Speaking while handing over the grant award letters to the benefiting 30 communities during a two-day cluster training workshop for 30 beneficiaries of the SBMC for 2019, SBMC – SIP project and desk officers from the three senatorial districts of the state at St Andrew’s Model Primary School, Port Harcourt, last Wednesday, the Executive Chairman, Rivers State Universal Basic Education Board (RSUBEB), Ven Fyneface Akah commended the Federal Government for being stable in the provision of funds and basic infrastructure for the development of basic education in the state.
Akah stated that the Federal Government has gone extra mile in its commitment towards improving the basic education sub-sector through the grants by extending community involvement and engagement through SBMC improvement programmes.
He explained that the programme allows the benefiting communities to pay a counterpart fund of 10percent of the total grant sum approved to them by the Federal Government, adding that since the introduction of the scheme in 2018, the positive impact on basic education has been enormous.
The RSUBEB boss said the programme was designed as a subtle way to involve communities directly in the management and ownership of the schools in their communities, adding that any school governance without community involvement would lose its objectives and aims.
Akah disclosed that the workshop was organised to teach and inform the various benefiting communities their roles and expectations in the management of grants for their various schools.
“We have invited the 30 communities selected to give them the required knowledge for the utilisation of the grant judiciously for the purpose for which it was given. They are to use it to provide furniture, and other needs of their schools. We have put in place necessary machineries to ensure that the funds are used as approved. They are to pay their own 10percent counterpart fund in order to access the grant,”he stated.
Also speaking, a Principal Social Mobilisation Officer, UBEC Abuja, Mr Agbaha Sorochi applauded the programme for its positive impact, adding that transferring the management of schools to the communities promotes education development.
He said that the essence of the cluster training for the selected communities was to enhance teaching and learning in the various schools, adding that all the benefiting schools would sign MoU that would guide the application and usage of the grants.
Earlier in his speech, the RSUBEB Director in charge of Social Mobilisation, Mr Ibe Ogwe said the entire essence of SBMC was to involve communities and stakeholders in the management of schools in their various areas as well as improve school governance at the grassroots.
He said that in the past, the management and governance of schools was left in the hands of government, adding that the narrative has been changed since the introduction of SBMC.
Speaking on behalf of the benefiting communities, Chairman, Community Development Committee, Bunu-Tai in Tai Local Government Area of the state, Hon Nilasu Joseph, lauded the Federal Government for the grant, and assured that the fund would be judiciously used in order to improve basic education system in their various localities.
By: Amadi Akujobi
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