ENSUBEB boss, Okibe tasks education secretaries to embark on aggressive monitoring of schools

From Chinelo Kodilichukwu Enugu

The Executive Chairman of Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board (ENSUBEB), Associate Hyginus Banko Okibe, has charged Education Secretaries in the State to take the issue of monitoring and supervision of academic activities/programs in Public Schools in their Council Areas more seriously than ever before.

Okibe, who gave the charge at a one-day meeting with the Education Secretaries in Enugu reminded them that as major stakeholders in the business of education, they should see their work as a task that must be done with passion, commitment, and dedication, as it will no longer be business as usual.

The ENSUBEB Boss told them that the purpose of the meeting is hinged on school resumption for the 2024/2025 academic year.

The essence of the meeting is to x-ray the best means of enrolling the children into the school this academic session, ensure that school activities start Mondays through Fridays, and share ideas on best practices and their challenges to identify and address them for better.

He frowned at the attitude of some Education Secretaries who had formed the habit of staying in the comfort of their homes or conniving with their teachers and manufacturing reports of their school monitoring and supervision and made it clear that such acts were unacceptable and would no longer be tolerated, by the Board.

The Executive Chairman used the occasion to announce a paradigm shift from their old method of long note reporting of monitoring and supervision results to a new format that will be data adding that the results of their school monitoring and supervision must be represented in Pie Chart, Tables or Histograms for easy comprehension.

He also stressed the need for Education Secretaries to physically visit the school, monitor teaching/learning, inspect both the learning environment and circumstances surrounding the environment, and ensure that their teachers do the needful in the discharge of their duties.

The Executive Chairman also reminded the Education Secretaries that they should provide leadership in carrying out their official assignments and improve their work ethics by first evaluating/re-evaluating themselves, knowing what they do, and knowing what they are supposed to do since “the best life is when examiners are examined.”

Okibe told them some of the new measures to be introduced by the Board to measure the productivity of teachers, which include a rigorous examination of teachers’ competence before their promotion to the next level and monthly/quarterly meetings to assess their performance to ensure that they are in line with government’s new agenda for basic education.

Also, in her speech, Permanent Member III of the Board, Ego Aja, spoke on the need for Education Secretaries to supply accurate/comprehensive information regarding what happens in their schools to the Board to assist it in its major decisions and planning.

Ajah advised the participants to always interact with their teachers and share information with both tutorial and non-tutorial staff to be handy with relevant information about their schools, especially in areas of school attendance and enrollment, among others.

She advised them to always lead by example, carry everybody along in the scheme of things, relate very well with their teachers, and see themselves as an agent of positive change, especially with the introduction of the smart school system in the State.

Highlights of the meeting, which featured an interactive session, include monitoring and supervision of school programs, data collection classification and reporting, work ethics and the implications of negligence and adapting to the new work environment, and aligning activities with the agenda of Gov. Mbah in the Basic Education Sector in the State.