By Ngozi Nwankwo
In a bid to provide guide and beacon for the activities of National Senior Secondary Education Commission, the key Stakeholders in education sector have presented an overview the 4- year Strategic Plan for the Commission.
The Stakeholders presented the Strategic Plan at the end of a one day Stakeholders’ critique workshop of the Senior Secondary Education Strategic Plan 2024-2027 held in Abuja, recently.
The communiqué drafted after the workshop quoted Emeritus Prof. Olugbemiro Jegede, the lead resource person, as saying that Strategic Plan is comprehensive document that outlines an organisation’s vision, mission, goals and objectives over a specific period, in line with its mandate. Jegede emphasised the importance of a Strategic Plan as being key to providing a road map for decision making and adequate resource allocation, whilst articulating the organisation’s priorities and aligning all stakeholders towards a common purpose.
The overview of the 4-year Strategic Plan presented by Jegede captured Education and Development, the rise and fall of education globally, the various sections of the NSSEC Strategic Plan for Senior Secondary Education.
Meanwhile, the Stakeholder, while discussing on the Strategic Plan made some observations that were mainly on presenting realistic turnaround strategies, identifying the enablers for each activity and further breaking down the timelines within which the plan would be operational.
The Stakeholders observation and recommendations as stated in the communiqué included: In the area of Quality Assurance and Curriculum coordination; it was recommended that a monitoring and evaluation tool be developed as a means of measuring performance.
In the area of Research, Data, Planning and Policy, they emphasised the need to organize workshops to promote inclusive education; with a focus on increasing the number of special education teachers to be re tooled nationwide.
For positive impact in the area of Capacity Building and Professional development, a key
enabler which received an overall consensus was in the technical support from partners
and the availability of funds for the execution. This was agreed to be key in ensuring that Teachers were updated with global best practices in the area of knowledge and skills for enhanced learning.
They also observed that funding, resource mobilisation and partnership is an area requiring special emphasis, as this is key for the success of any strategic plan.
Participants highlighted the need to promote collaboration and synergy among the relevant agencies which could be
actualised by disseminating adequate information on the activities of the commission.
Also, the stakeholders recommended the need to ensure prudence in the provision of necessary infrastructural facilities by enhancing transparency and accountability in the conduct of programmes and projects.
They agreed that Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics,STEAM/ Technical, Vocational Education and Training,TVET,are key areas within the mandate of the Commission’s intervention that would transform senior secondary education in Nigeria.