Students from Edo Basic Education Sector Transformation (EdoBEST) programme schools were the cynosure of all eyes as they dazzled local and international investors with their presentation at the recently concluded Edo state flagship investor summit, Alagodaro, in Benin City.
The all-female student performers, drawn from secondary schools, presented a spoken-word rendered with the title “Alaghodaro!” in which they spoke about how some landmark projects of the Governor Godwin Obaseki led administration is transforming Edo state while encouraging the investors to invest in the state.
In the 15-minutes-long rendition, the students spoke glowingly about investment opportunities in Edo state while drawing attention to the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP), the Ossiomo Power Company, the EdoBEST program, Edo Innovation and Victor Uwaifo Creative Hubs, all of which were put in place by the Obaseki led administration.
“We have the Edo State Oil Palm Programme (ESOPP) where our palm oil is laced with gold?
“Progress!
”The Ossiomo Power Company shines the light so bright on our streets, industrial clusters and government establishments.
“Progress!
“Our EdoBEST program, producing digital teachers for the generation Zs and Alphas?
“Progress!
“Let’s not forget our civil service, where our civil and public servants render tech-savvy service.
“Did you know that Mrs. Osahon no longer runs around from office to office with files? With the Edo Gov. Platform, all you need is a click to sort mountains of files,” the students said to the applause of investors.
In response, Governor Godwin Obaseki thanked the management and staff of Edo State Universal Basic Education Board (Edo SUBEB) for effectively managing the basic education system while commending the students for their presentation.
“We are delighted that our reform programme is yielding the desired result, these students are the products of our investment in education. In the long run, no Edo child will have to embark of a perilous journey if they have quality education that makes them functional, employable and self-reliant,” the Governor said.
EdoBEST was launched by Governor Obaseki in 2018 in response to the decay of the education system. The programme has been instrumental to the total overall of the education system through radical changes in classroom management culture, investment in teacher training and professional development as well as introduction of state-of-the-art technology for schools’ management.
EdoBEST was extended to the junior secondary school system in February 2022 because of its measurable impact on the primary school system.
Now catering to over 350,000 students, the programme has seen to the training of almost 19,000 teachers in both the primary and junior secondary school system.
In January 2022, 148 primary schools located in rural and hard-to-reach areas were incorporated into EdoBEST using a model referred to as the progressive primary school model.
The programme has been recommended as a model for largescale education sector transformation by major stakeholders in the basic education sector including the Executive Secretary of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Dr. Hamid Bobboyi and stakeholders in multilateral institutions including the World Bank.
