Funmi Ogundare
Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has highlighted the gains of the transformational primary school education initiative, EKOEXCEL, inaugurated in 2019.
In an article titled ‘The potential of Africa’s youth is enormous. We must ensure they learn,’ which he published on wise-qatar.org, Sanwo-Olu explained how his government went about improving primary education and the milestones that have been recorded with EKOEXCEL.
WISE is an international, multi-sectoral platform for creative thinking, debate and purposeful action. The platform owned by the Qatar Foundation has established itself as a global reference in new approaches to education.
Through its biennial summit and a range of ongoing programs, WISE is promoting innovation and building the future of education through collaboration.
The governor explained how he made the state education system that delivers learning to drive prosperity, growth and security, a priority.
His administration, he added, focused on both improving enrollment and learning outcomes, which led to the launch of EKOEXCEL.
Sanwo-Olu disclosed that the initiative began with improving teachers before shifting to learners.
According to him,””we began with our teachers. The quality of our education cannot exceed the quality of our educators, and we recognise that the best possible support for our teachers is vital.
“More than 14,000 teachers have been trained and upskilled in proven teaching techniques. Each one is supported to teach world-class-quality lessons, with the same curriculum and lesson notes based upon cutting-edge pedagogy delivered through their teacher tablet.
“That also provides real-time monitoring from every classroom in every school.”
EKOEXCEL leaders, Sanwo-Olu added, can track student performance and a range of other crucial indicators, including teacher attendance, student attendance and lesson completion.
” With strong support from teachers, school leaders and teaching unions, we have expanded EKOEXCEL to cover every public primary school in Lagos State; more than 1,000 schools, reaching more than 350,000 students.”
Results, he noted, have been excellent.
Endline tests found that after two years, despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, an average primary three EKOEXCEL pupil could read at nearly the same fluency level as an average primary five pupil before the launch of the programme
Sanwo-Olu further noted that studies, including the one conducted by the Nobel Prize-winning Economist, Prof. Michael Kremer, have confirmed that EKOEXCEL boosts learning gains.
“That study found learning gains ‘among the largest ever measured in international education’ when it tracked learning outcomes in schools in Kenya. Early monitoring also found the programme was delivering gender equity gains, with girls registered at EKOEXCEL schools 8 per cent more likely to attend than girls at other schools.
“The governor added that Lagos was proud of its achievements because it has shown that system transformation is achievable and that learning outcomes can be changed at speed and at scale.
“I believe our model, born of the Global South and driven by an African leadership, offers an example of how others can and must take the lead in overhauling their education systems. With Nigeria and Africa’s demographic challenge, this has never been more vital,” he wrote.
