UBEC targets 2,200 new schools to cut out-of-school children

By Adesina Wahab

The Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC, is adopting new models that will facilitate the construction of more than 2,200 schools across the country as part of efforts to reduce the number of out-of-school children, OOSC.

The models are being developed under the Public-Private Engagement Partnership, PPEP, framework.

Speaking in Ikeja, Lagos, on Wednesday at a two-day workshop to finalise the framework, the Executive Director of UBEC, Dr Aisha Garba, said the initiative was being developed in partnership with development agencies, including UNICEF, the organised private sector and other stakeholders.

Garba was represented at the workshop by Abdulmumini Abdulsalam, Head of UBEC Public Private Engagement and Partnership, PPEP.

Garba said education was too important a responsibility to be borne by government alone, stressing that the scale and complexity of the challenges facing the basic education sector required the collective commitment, expertise, resources and innovation of various stakeholders.

She identified the high number of out-of-school children, infrastructure deficits, inadequate supply of qualified teachers and pressure on limited public resources as some of the challenges confronting the sector.

“Against this backdrop, it is imperative that we explore and leverage the vast opportunities that exist through strategic partnerships and stakeholder engagement to bridge these gaps and accelerate progress towards the attainment of quality basic education for all,” she said.

According to her, UBEC had over the years engaged a wide range of partners, including the organised private sector, development partners, civil society organisations and other non-state actors, resulting in interventions in areas such as school infrastructure, teacher development and learning materials.

She specifically acknowledged the contributions of UNICEF, the Federal Ministry of Education, sister agencies, Solina Group, resource persons, the Universal Service Provision Fund, USPF, private sector actors, civil society organisations, State Universal Basic Education Boards, SUBEBs, and UBEC officials to the development of the framework.

Garba said previous partnerships at UBEC had largely been ad hoc, driven by goodwill without clear guidelines on how the private sector, philanthropists, foundations and international partners could participate.

She said the new framework was intended to provide a common direction and practical structure for collaboration between government and private-sector actors in addressing identified challenges in basic education.

“This Framework we are finalising today is therefore not simply another policy document. It is intended to provide a common direction and practical structure for how government and private-sector actors can work together to address identified challenges in basic education.

“It is about moving isolated interventions to strategic, coordinated and sustainable partnership,” she said.

Garba said the two-day workshop was aimed at critically examining the draft framework to ensure that it was practical, implementable and responsive to the realities of schools across the country.

She said that after its finalisation, the framework would be presented to the Minister of Education and the UBEC Board for approval and formal launch.

According to her, the framework would subsequently serve as the official guiding document for partnership initiatives involving UBEC and SUBEBs.

She said the initiative would promote structured and accountable collaboration, ensuring that financial, technical and material contributions were strategically deployed to improve basic education.

Under the “Build a New School” model, private-sector players are expected to construct 2,200 schools, which UBEC estimates could benefit more than 900,000 learners. Each school is expected to cost between N134 million and N140 million.

Another model, “Adopt-a-School,” provides for the renovation of existing schools at an estimated cost of N40 million, with additional funding of about N2.96 million for three years of maintenance. UBEC estimates that more than 3.8 million learners could benefit, with over 8,000 schools targeted.

The “Fund-an-Initiative” model will allow private-sector players to support specific initiatives, including the provision of laptops, computers and internet access to individual schools or groups of schools.

UBEC is also considering support for private schools located in communities where public schools are unavailable or located far from residents.

Under the arrangement, private-sector players could bear the cost of education or support up to 50 learners in a school.

Garba said the various initiatives were designed to significantly reduce the number of out-of-school children, which she put at about 15 million.

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