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Osun Education: The Verdict Of JAMB’s Ranking And Waec’s Honour By Inwalomhe Donald

JAMB’s ranking of Osun State applicants has placed Governor Aregbesola on the spotlight because he has laid the foundation and remains the pioneer of digital education in Nigeria. He represents an agent of change as far as digital education is concerned in Nigeria.

The history of Digital Education will remember Governor Aregbesola as the first Nigerian to implement 2011 UNESCO recommendation on digital education because it is not by miracle that Osun is taking second in term of JAMB 2017 applicants.

Imo State has, for the second year running, topped the number of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) applications with 101,868 this year, the board’s registrar, Is-haq Oloyede, said. The registrar spoke at a briefing with reporters in Abuja ahead of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) billed to start in 642 computer-based test (CBT) centres across the country.

According to Oloyede, other states that topped the list of applicants are Osun, and Oyo, following the applications of statistics by state of origin. Oloyede said Osun recorded the second highest with 88,653 applications. Oyo had 87,811 applications. The JAMB registrar said Benue (68, 916), Kogi (70,150) and Kano (70,276) recorded the lowest applications. He added that the agency registered 1.7 million candidates – an increase of 464,287 candidates from last year’s 1.2 million registered candidates.

Recently, Governor Aregbesola was honoured by WAEC for taking the lead in digital education in Nigeria and JAMB statistics on Osun applicants has proven that WAEC honour was right. This truly is a tremendous opportunity for Aregbesola to help more Osun students get access to quality education. In the new global economy, digital education is an increasingly important part of education, and Aregbesola looks forward to guiding efforts to further expand the reach and breadth of digital education and its courses throughout Nigeria.

West African Examination Council and JAMB, WAEC, endorsed Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s policies, especially in the education sector. Delivering a frame of endorsement to the governor on 3rd February, 2017, Head of the Nigeria National Office of the council, Mr. Olutise Isaac Adenipekun, who led a delegation of the national management of WAEC to the Governor’s office in Osogbo, said Governor Rauf Aregbesola’s interventions in education is “second to none” in Nigeria.

Adenipekun said, “The ongoing revolution in the infrastructural re-engineering of the school complexes in the state of Osun has also caught the attention of all stakeholders in the education sector in Nigeria and beyond. “The immense contribution of Osun state government in the development of infrastructural facilities in schools, in particular, the “Mega Schools Project” is remarkable. It is in fact second to none in Nigeria”, he stressed.

Adenipekun said Osun has contributed significantly towards enhancing Information and Communication Technology, ICT required in education sector which according to him remains the prerequisite to development of quality education in the country. Adenipekun, who recommended the Tablet of Knowledge to other states of the federation said the initiative had contributed towards educational development. He described the innovation as a tool of educational revolution, breakthrough aimed at enhancing and encouraging the process of teaching and learning through the use of innovative technology.

The inspiring efforts of the OgbeniRauf Aregbesola administration in reforming and investing in education in Osun State can be appreciated through JAMB ranking statistics and WAEC honour. The conviction of the administration that education holds the key to the realisation of the all-encompassing transformation in its visions for the state informs the undistracted attention it accords educational development right from 2010 when it assumed office. The administration makes education the bedrock of the various policies it has designed and been executing to improve the existential condition of the people of the state.

For Osun State government, the functional education the children of the state must receive has to take place in befitting structures, which have advanced facilities, are conducive for learning, and enhance human dignity. By embarking on educational projects, the state government is simply saying the culture of excellence that guide the affairs of standard private schools is possible for it to attain. What exists in Osun in terms of educational infrastructure development is not symbolism but substance.

About 12,000 teachers have been added to the already existing pool of teachers across the schools in the state. It is not just about physical infrastructure; the human infrastructural is also seriously taken into cognisance, for no educational system can rise above the quality of the teachers.

The idea of education for development motivates Osun to prioritise education. Governor Aregbesola underscores this in the address he delivered at the opening of the Osogbo Government High School. In his words, ‘Education for us, therefore, is the path to development. We are 25 years now, but we are looking at the next 25 years and we want to create and determine the next 25 years through education.’

In spite of the financial constraint it has, Osun refuses to give up its walk on the path of educational development. It continues to invest in it because it is persuaded that doing so has many invaluable benefits and not bankruptcy. One of Africa’s most talked-about ICT success stories in the education sector is the adoption of Computer Based Test (CBT) for entrance examination into tertiary schools organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) a Nigerian examination body with a core mandate to conduct Matriculation Examination for entry into all Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges of Education in Nigeria and Osun State applicants are ranked second on the table because of the quality education that Aregbesola has introduced in Osun State.

JAMB, especially under Professor Oleyede, has increased its institutional capacity and credibility since the introduction of the CBT in 2015. Determined to make the Computer Based Test all inclusive to different category of candidates with disabilities. Against the backdrop of the importance of ICT to the present era, the effort by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) which has now phased out the use of the paper and pencil method for its examinations in favour of computer-based tests, is not only a commendable step in the right direction, it is also a pointer to the fact that Africa and indeed Nigeria is playing a very crucial role in global ICT revolution.

JAMB has revealed that Osun State is highly successful in creating a modern ICT supported examination. Learning the lessons from JAMB, Osun applicants are also understanding the breadth of the application of ICT is valuable for broad goals of a smart country and the quest for efficiency. Since the creation of Osun State in 1991, the state has been ranked second by JAMB for the first time.

History of Digital Education will remember Governor Aregbesola as the first Nigerian to implement UNESCO 2011 recommendation on digital education. Nigerians need to visit Osun Sukuk Schools, Middle Schools and Elementary Schools. Governor Aregbesola has undertaken to build and equip schools with computer classrooms and training teachers to use digital media in education.