FCTA bemoans inability to fund education, seeks alternative finding

Favour Ishember, Abuja

Authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has owned up to its inability to single-handedly fund education in Territory, thus, called for an urgent participation of non-state actors and the organized public sector to strengthen the funding of public schools as well as vocational centres.

FCTA Permanent Secretary, Mr. Olusade Adesola who disclosed this Wednesday while declaring open a 2-day retreat organized to seek sustainable options for funding of FCT public schools and vocational centres, in Abuja, said the administration has  begun plans to attract alternative sources of funding for the education sector in the Territory.

Adesola  hailed the Secretariat for being consistent in the production of annual school survey, which is a veritable document for effective planning and administration of schools in the FCT.

He also praised them for partnering international development agencies for  developing a medium and educational planning, which according to him, is a good guide for organized development in the sector.

He therefore tasked the participants to deliberate on improving productivity of teachers in FCT schools, evolve credible partnerships that will complement funding of the sector, develope action plan for sustaining training and capacity development of our teachers to upscale them in consonance with evolving advancement in technology.

In the words of the Permanent secretary:”Our efforts in the development of the plan will come to naught if the document is not applied with our developmental initiatives. I therefore  implore this gathering to prioritize the application of the education sector plan in your budget preparation to enhance effective plan implementation”.

Adesola however, warned and urged the participants to engage in meaningful and productive discussions that would strengthen their individual capacities and that of the Secretariat as an institution to improve education performance and services delivery.

Earlier in his remarks, Secretary,  Education Secretariat, Malam Sani Dahir El-katuzu stated that the retreat, in addition to finding solutions to the challenges of funding, would also address issues of security and update participants’ knowledge on their functions in the Secretariat.

In a chat with journalists on the sidelines of the retreat, El-Katuzu commended the FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello for resuscitating the G7 security operation and the provision of operational vehicles, saying it would provide them relief to concentrate on handling school management and operation.

Also, Director, Department of Policy, Planning , Research and Statistics, Malam Sani Ladan explained that the kind of sustainable funding the FCTA was seeking was not cash, but collaborations.

He further explained that the collaboration could be in terms of infrastructure, training and retraining, as well as community development.

Hence, Ladan  commended some of their development partners such as UNICEF, UNESCO and KOICA, among others, and called on others to also partner with the FCTA to continue delivering excellent educational services to all learners.