By Adibe Emenyonu
The federal government has approved the take off of a federal college of education in Edo State to boost Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) in the state.
The college is among the six federal colleges of education approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, disclosed this during an inspection of ongoing construction work at the Tayo Apkata University of Education, where the new Federal College of Education would be sited.
He said the institution will specialise in training TVET teachers, to complement his administration’s focus on technical education, adding, “we applied to President Muhammadu Buhari to have one of the six federal colleges of education to be sited in the six geo political zones of the country. The president in his kindness and love for Edo people approved it.
“The Edo State Government has additional capacity to drive TVET with the establishment of this federal institution in the state. We would have a federal college of education that specialises in training teachers for technical and vocational subjects which is the area we are heading.
“I approached the president less than seven months ago on the need to have a federal college of education in Edo State and he granted it. While speaking with the Minister of Education, Adamu Adamu, I realised that we can promptly commence the opening of the federal college of education if we provided the facilities to the federal government for the institution. This motivated us to ask them to take over this school to enable us take off.”
Obaseki said the move to convert the old college of education to a university of education became impossible due to budget constraints, adding that Edo is already blessed with two state-owned universities and seven private universities, noting that it would be imprudent to establish another state-owned university.
He added that officials of the federal government will be visiting the state to inspect the institution soon ahead of the planned commencement of academic activities.
According to the governor, “the plan is that by September this year, the school should commence operation with its first intake.”
On the fate of staff of the institution, Obaseki said since the staff are workers of the state government, they will be redeployed to the state College of Education with three campuses once his administration finalises the bill establishing the institution, which is currently before the Edo State House of Assembly.
The governor, who was accompanied by the Deputy Governor, Rt. Hon. Philip Shaibu; Chief of Staff, Mr. Etan Osaze Uzamere; Commissioner for Education, Jimoh Ijegbai, and other government functionaries, on the tour, also inspected the Government Science and Technical College (GSTC), Benin City.
