The National Universities Commission (NUC) has approved the provisional licence for the take-off of the Enugu State University of Medical and Applied Sciences (SUMAS), located in Igbo-Eno community of the state.

The NUC Executive Secretary, Prof. Abubakar Rasheed, while handing over the licence to the State Governor, Ifeanyi Ugwanyi, in Abuja said it would make the university the 219th in the country.

Rasheed congratulated the state governor and advised on strict adherence to the laws guiding university operations.

He also urged the state government to take note of the professional and technical advice of the commission as regards the statutory requirements on the establishment, sustainable funding and operation of the university.

He, therefore, said that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund), National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) were being notified of the establishment of the university.

The state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwanyi while presenting the instrument establishing the university said the state was one of those with very high number of candidates applying for admissions, with only a very small percentage of them gaining admission.

He, therefore, presented the instrument establishing the university and the necessary documents including academic brief and master-plan which would facilitate the NUC’s consideration of the recognition of the university.

He added that adequate provisions had been made for sustainable funding of the new university.

Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Professor Kayode Adebowale, has solicited the assistance of world football governing body, Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) towards the establishment of a football academy in the university.

In a statement by the Principal Assistant Registrar/Public Relations Officer, Directorate of Public Communication of the institution, Adejoke Akinpelu, Professor Adebowale made the appeal during a courtesy visit by a five-man delegation of FIFA to his office.

The Vice Chancellor said he would love to leave the football academy as one of the legacies of his administration.

He stated that the academy would be useful to the institution as well as Nigeria as a country, noting that FIFA, as an international organisation, has more influence and is thus better placed to help make the academy a reality.

The vice chancellor also called for collaboration with FIFA in Sports Science and Medicine.

In his response, the leader of the FIFA team, Solomon Mudege, a member of the associations’ division of FIFA, said his organisation was always ready to encourage development programmes to advance football in Africa.

He said this explained why FIFA was cooperating with the Pan African University to promote its Sports Management programme.

The FIFA delegation was in UI to facilitate a workshop for the MSc. Sports Management students of the Pan African University Life and Earth Sciences Institute, University of Ibadan and Postgraduate students of Sports Science.

On the FIFA delegation were Fatou Binetou Ba, a FIFA consultant; Dr. Nonhlanhla Mkumbuzi, a FIFA consultant; the Director of PAULESI, Professor Esther T. Akinlabi; HOD, Human Kinetics/Programme coordinator, Professor O. A. Adegbesan; Deputy Director of PAULESI, Dr. M.A. Oladunjoye; Engr O. Okewale, ICT Officer and Mr. K. A. Osunlana, Admin Officer at PAULESI.

Present with the vice chancellor were the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Administration, Professor Olusola Ayoola; Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academics, Professor Aderonke Baiyeroju; Dean of Education, Prof O. A. Fakolade; Dean of Students Affairs, Professor I. A. Abiona; Deputy Registrar in the Office of the Vice Chancellor, Morenike Afolabi and the PAR/PRO, Adejoke Akinpelu.

Katsina State ranks high on the list of out of school children with about 536,132 out-of-school.

Stakeholders in the education sector expressed concerns over the low enrolment of girls in schools in the North West state.

They traced the high number of out-of-school children in the state to the high rates of poverty, violence and cultural norms.

The stakeholders spoke at a media dialogue on Girls’ Education Project (GEP-3), organised by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), with funding from the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).

Education specialist with UNICEF, Kano Field Office, Muntaka Mukhtar, revealed that out of the 536,132 out-of-school children in Katsina, 267,000 are girls.

According to him, primary schools in the state outnumber junior secondary schools.

Mukhtar said Katsina lags behind on equal school attendance among boys and girls, adding that common gender norms put girls at a disadvantage, which he said led them to drop out of school at higher rates.

The Emir of Daura, Umar Faruk, who also regretted the low school enrolment status in the state, said the emirate was intensifying efforts in sensitising parents on the need to send their female children to school.

The monarch, who spoke when journalists visited his palace as part of the field trip, insisted that matters concerning enrolment and attendance of the female child were of serious concern.

UNICEF Senior Education Manager of Kano, Micheal Banda, said the UN agency through the FCDO GEP3-funded project, was partnering with the media to address transition challenges in girls’ education from primary to junior secondary school.

Two Nigerian schools have found their way into the top 10 lists of the World’s Best School Prize albeit in different categories.

T4 Education in partnership with Templeton World Charity Foundation, Accenture and American Express, is on the Top 10 shortlists for the new $250,000 World’s Best School Prizes.

Similarly, Best Intellectuals Model School, in Ohanku, Aba, Abia State, was named in Top 10 shortlist for World’s Best School Prize for Overcoming Adversity.

The World’s Best School Prizes celebrate schools for the pivotal role they play in developing next generation of learners and for their contribution to society’s progress, especially in the wake of the pandemic.

Founder of T4 Education and initiator of World’s Best School Prizes, Vikas Pota, said with over 1.5 billion learners impacted by school and university closures, the pandemic has greatly exacerbated a global education crisis.

He said even before the pandemic, the United Nations had warned that progress was already too slow to achieve universal quality education by 2030.

Pota disclosed that the Top three finalists for each of the five World’s Best School Prizes, namely for community collaboration, environmental action, innovation, overcoming adversity and supporting healthy lives, would be announced later this year.

He said winners would be chosen based on rigorous criteria by a judging academy, comprising leaders from across the globe.

Pota added that winners would be announced in October 2022 at the World Education Week.

According to him, a prize of $250,000 will be equally shared among winners of the five Prizes, with each receiving an award of $50,000.

He added that all 50 shortlisted schools across the five prizes will share their best practices through toolkits that showcase their “secret sauce” to innovative approaches and step-by-step instructions on how others can replicate their methods to help boost education.

Best Intellectuals Model School, situated in Ohanku, Aba, Abia State, made a music video to boost students’ morale in the wake of the pandemic, which went viral in the process.

In 2021, the school faced many crises. With the pandemic lockdown measures and high unemployment rate among other challenges, the conditions faced by the school forced it to reevaluate how it would continue to operate, keep up the morale of demoralised students and the community. It decided to use the healing power of music.

A bill for the establishment of Federal University of Education (Technical) Bichi, Kano State has passed second reading at the Senate.

The bill was sponsored by Senator Jibrin Barau (APC-Kano) who in his lead debate said that there was the need to have strong system in the educational sector with establishment of more institutions for training of teachers.

According to him, the objectives of the proposed Federal University of Education, Bichi, is to encourage advancement of learning to all persons without distinction of race, creed, sex or political conviction.

Argument For Establishment

To develop and offer academic, technical and professional programmes leading to the award of certificates, first degrees, post graduate research, diploma and higher degrees with emphasis on planning, developmental and adaptive skills in education.

To produce socially mature educational men and women with capabilities not to only understand the educational and technological needs of Nigeria as a nation, but also to exploit existing educational infrastructure and improve on them to develop new ones.

To bring quality change in Technical Education by focusing on teacher education, through teaching and learning innovations.

While addressing parliamentarians, he said the enactment of this bill will go a long way in transforming the decayed educational infrastructure in Nigeria and change the educational fortunes of the country for the better.

The bill was passed for second reading when put to voice votes by the President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan who thereafter referred the bill to the Senate Committee on Tertiary Education and TetFund for more legislative inputs.