The declaration of a State of Emergency in the education sector by Governor Umo Eno during the 2026 World Teachers’ Day celebration is a commendable and bold admission of the systemic challenges facing public education in Akwa Ibom State. By matching his declaration with immediate welfare policies – approving the recruitment of 2,000 additional teachers, a N50,000 wardrobe allowance for public school teachers, and N500,000 grants for registered private schools, the Governor has shown how much he values human capital as a primary component of the ARISE Agenda. The governor deserves generous appreciation.
Trust the Governor, he understands that those cash grants and allowances are short-term boosts to morale; and that a more definitive action must follow if tangible changes must emerge. That is why he doubles down and insist on a more comprehensive diagnosis of education management’s challenges. He wants those challenges addressed comprehensively and strategically. We all owe him appreciation and encouragement. The best way to do that is to assist the committee to succeed in its task by coming up with a scaled strategy which when implemented would improve education in the State.
A functional education system in Akwa Ibom State should aim to deepen institutional restructuring. One major challenge facing the sector is inequitable teacher distribution between urban and rural schools. While there are abundant teachers in urban schools, the reverse is case in schools located in rural communities. This has direct negative impact on performance of our children in rural communities at public examinations. The problem is more acute in the hard-to-reach local government areas such as Eastern Obolo, Mbo, Ibeno, Ini, and Ibiono to mention a few.
A robust rural posting incentive scheme to attract teachers to rural schools has become compelling. Schemes such as compulsory one-to-two-year mandatory posting to rural schools may have to be introduced. This should be one of the criteria for promotion and incentives. It should be enhanced by the provision of teachers’ quarters in rural schools or housing cluster by local government authorities where facilities and security are made available. Backed by public transportation system, this could become a major development initiative of LG authorities.
Immediately following is Infrastructure deficit which has been neglected by previous governments and abused by the public across all LGAs. These include dilapidated classrooms laboratories, libraries, IT infrastructure and sporting facilities. Past efforts at renovating schools were haphazard, political, and discriminatory.
Read Also: IPAC Applauds Gov. Eno Over ₦3.2BN Investment In Education, Future Of A’Ibom Children.
Addressing these needs a digital data-driven public primary and secondary schools’ infrastructure audit. This would result in systematized Interventions based on graduated priorities. Renovated schools and facilities should thereafter benefit from timely maintenance culture.
The infrastructure provided should be supported by curricula overhaul in favor of technical, vocational, and ICT skills development. A robust framework to progressively transit to the use of digital learning aids should naturally follow. Over time, the gap between elite private and public schools would be narrowed.
We must work out a way to curb poor sense of duty and commitment to public good and reflected in the way we take ownership of public assets, whether as workers or members of the public. This pertinent because no amount of money invested in these public schools, we will not derive the desired value-for-money unless and until strict oversight is exercised. Thus, an independent technology-driven monitoring mechanism should be in place to ensure our school assets are not subjected to vandalism and systemic abuse. The monitoring mechanism should also be available to track teacher absenteeism, infrastructure maintenance compliance and student learning outcomes.
Some years back, Senator Adam Oshiomhole, while serving as governor of Edo State, did evaluation of teachers in Edo schools. What came out was a sordid sight where most of the teachers knew far less than enough to qualify as teachers. Our school system suffers from “rusty teachers”. Teachers are a “forgotten” lot when it comes to upscaling their skills after employment. Nobody, however brilliant, can perform optimally without regular initial onboarding and continuous professional development. Injecting new teachers into an old system will yield better than average results if given a mandatory post-recruitment orientation bootcamp before their primary assignment.
This would enable them appreciate the need for a thoughtful mix between theoretical concepts and practical classroom management, child psychology, lesson planning, and familiarization with the school curriculum. They need knowledge of public service ethics, emotional intelligence, and accountability measures to address absenteeism and modern disciplinary requirements for a child.
Subsequent retraining programs would then leverage on continuous professional development. Here attention would focus on subject-matter mastery where regular refresher courses in core subject areas like mathematics, science, and English language would update their knowledge. This would definitely patch knowledge gaps. Digital literacy training then completes the pack by supplying basic digital tools, educational software, and multimedia aids to deliver lessons, rather than relying solely on traditional blackboards.
It is obviously expensive to retrain teachers because of their number. There are ways to cut back on Cost significantly when a train-the-trainer and mentorship model is applied. That will require a robust train-the-trainer template where exceptional teachers from various segments, or LGAs, are given accelerated training and then mandated to run localized weekend workshops for their peers.
Rewards, particularly promotions, should incorporate length of service performance, and self-improvement. Teachers will value training when it is associated with growth in the career ladder.
The challenge has always been funding in a situation of competing needs. That burden Cn be managed when a Blended Diversified Funding Model (BDFM) is applied. Here, statutory allocations, public-private partnerships, and independent institutional restructuring are combined to produce a funding hybrid. All we need do is revive Akwa Ibom Education Trust Fund (ETF) and incorporate BDFM. It will involve the dedication of a small percentage of internally generated revenue, a microscopic levy on corporate organizations operating in the state, particularly those in the oil and gas and hospitality sectors. About 15 to 20 percent of the ETF should be ring-fenced exclusively for teacher training. Additionally, the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) usually maintains a statutory Teacher Professional Development Fund (TPDF). The State can access that fund by providing the required counterpart funding in order to draw down 100 percent of the federal allocations specifically earmarked for teacher training.
Another segment we should explore is corporate social responsibility (CSR). We should take advantage of this funding by systematically exploring the possibilities. We consume goods and services produced by corporate organizations whether located in Akwa Ibom or not. But most corporate social programs elude us. And we have not deliberately drawn the attention of these organizations to it. Apart from consuming what they produce, they use our roads, pollute our environment and create social challenges and diseconomies without contributing to their remediation. The time is propitious to invite their top management to a discussion table and see how we can persuasively bring them to assist our education system. This can be in various forms – the provision of exercise books, teacher training, schools’ renovation, etc.
This paper cannot exhaust suggestions on the re-engineering process; but they point to the direction we could go to reinvigorate our education system for better results. Without education, every other aspect of our development fails. That is how serious it is.
–Mr. Owoh, Management Consultant, Researcher and Public Policy Analyst, writes from Uyo. buyersconsult@gmail.com
