The 18-member Anambra State Educational Advisory Council has submitted its report, titled “Solution Agenda: Shaping the Future of Anambra State through Innovative Educational Strategies,” to Governor Chukwuma Soludo.

The Vice Chairman of the Council, Osita Chidoka, said on Friday that the ad-hoc body was set up to develop new pathways for delivering quality education and improving learning outcomes for students in the Anambra school system.

Mr Soludo served as the chairman of the Advisory Council while Prof Ngozi-Chuma Udeh, the Commissioner for Education, served as Secretary.

Mr Chidoka said Anambra currently had 1,098 public and 2,694 private primary schools with 255,897 pupils in the public sector alone while the state had 263 public and 769 private secondary schools.

He said the student population in public secondary schools was 133,741.

The former aviation minister said the advisory council engaged with different stakeholders in the education sector for inputs as well as reviewed the educational framework of six countries across Africa to develop the document.

He said some key recommendations were a new funding mechanism which included community participation, an education trust fund, and improved funding for teacher recruitment and training.

“Repurpose the state’s multiple education platforms into a single technology platform capable of providing students, parents, inspectors, and teachers’ access to information and training.

“Redesign the school inspection and supervision framework to enable grading and ranking of schools in the state along pre-set criteria including infrastructure, learning outcomes and student’s performance in national examinations. Aligning the state’s aspirations with global standards by joining the Programme for International Students Assessments as a sub-national government,” he said.

He said the governor had accepted the report and directed immediate implementations of the recommendations as they were in line with his vision of free and qualitative education.

 (NAN)