The Lagos state government has said that Dowen College in Lekki, will not reopen until the investigation into the death of the Junior student of the school, Sylvester Oromoni, reaches an advanced stage.

This is as all primary and secondary school in Lagos resumed second term, 2021/2022 academic session on Tuesday, January 4 as directed by the State Government.

Recall that Oromoni died on November 30, 2021. His family alleged he was beaten by some of his seniors days before he died.

Following the public outrage generated by the incident, the Lagos state government on December 3, 2021, ordered the indefinite closure of the school.

An assistant director in charge of the public affairs unit, Ministry of Education, Ganiu Lawal, In a recent interview, said very soon the school would join others to resume but “not until ongoing investigations into the unfortunate incident reach an advanced stage.”

Lagos State Commissioner for Education,  Folasade Adefisayo, has appealed to stakeholders to establish comprehensive schools across the state to provide a suitable career path for students based on their intelligence, intellectual, and skill competence.

Speaking at a strategic stakeholders’ meeting at The Zone, Workforce Group Gbagada, Lagos, Adefisayo noted that such schools would produce students who can fit into the workplace requirements.

The project will kick off this 2022 as directed by the governor.

The commissioner, who joined the event virtually, explained that this initiative gives the students opportunities to maximise either academics or vocation/skills acquisition.

“The motive will reduce the increasing rate of school dropout and actively engage the students in their various skills interest. The additional knowledge gained will positively give them a source of living while still in school and encourage them to be employers of labour,” she said.

Adefisayo informed the stakeholders that the forum was organised to brief them on the plans of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s administration to use comprehensive schools to turn the state’s education system around and solicit their views, opinions and support towards actualising the vision.

According to the commissioner, the engagement with the various stakeholders is also expected to collate manpower needs of private organisations and how students of the proposed comprehensive schools can add value to these organisations to reduce the state’s unemployment rate.

In his remarks, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Sustainable Development Goals, Solape Hammond, emphasised the significance of introducing comprehensive schools, saying some students have a pathway in academic pursuit while others are more interested in vocational skills acquisition.

She opined that vocational schools are the bedrock of the construction, manufacturing, digital/technology world.

The Executive Director, Lagos Business School Enterprise Development Centre, Peter Bamkole, also the Chairman, Advisory Committee, Lagos State Comprehensive School Programme, listed the subject categories for students which are; Agriculture, Tech/Digital Skills, Beauty/Events, Building/Construction, Media/Entertainment, Financial Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Communication and other areas.

Commending the Lagos government’s proactive measures in securing a better future for the students, the Chancellor of WellSpring University, Pastor Ituah Ighodalo, said through this initiative, the government will get the best out of the students and turn out people fit for purpose as they can practise various skills.

The stakeholders strategic meeting was graced by top government functionaries comprising a body of permanent secretaries and tutor generals, heads of ministerial agencies, etc.

The Federal Capital Territory Administration Education Secretariat has vowed it would not tolerate the application of foreign curriculum by groups or individuals in schools within the FCT.

The Secretary for Education, Sani Dahir El-katuzu, said this at the 2021 media luncheon of the secretariat in Abuja.

El-katuzu said the FCT Education Secretariat would not tolerate the imposition of a foreign curriculum.

“If somebody goes out to bring a curriculum from outside the country, he is importing the aspirations, plans and character of the intended students of another nation,” he explained. “Nigerians can’t be foreigners, and we can’t train our students to be citizens of other nations. That is why we will do everything we can to enforce the national curriculum in our schools. If somebody does not like that, he can go elsewhere and correct the school.”

He added that although the secretariat recognised some schools got the approval to apply foreign curriculum, such must run together with Nigerian curriculum.

“It would not be an exclusively foreign curriculum operating in schools. We will not tolerate that,” El-katuzu pointed out.

On the issue of cultism and bullying in FCT schools, he said there was an arrangement to tackle cultism and urged schools to deal decisively with bullying.

He listed eight strategic plans for schools across the territory in 2022, adding that in the year ahead, security will be strengthened with the introduction of technologies, particularly for schools in vulnerable locations.

El-Katuzu also disclosed that this new year’s academic activities would commence at FCT University of Science and Technology (FUSTA), while the FCT College of Education, Zuba, will be transformed to FCT University of Education, Zuba.

The Ogun State Government has threatened to sanction private schools owners in the state that enrol students expelled from public schools.

The government also vowed to name and shame any guilty pupils at the school, zonal and state levels if found wanting.

The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Prof. Abayomi Arigbagbu, stated this on Tuesday, at a press briefing held in Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital to unveil the strategies mapped out to tackle juvenile delinquencies in schools in the state.

Arigbagbu stated this due to the series of crimes recently committed by pupils in public schools which led to the abrupt closure of some schools last year.

The Commissioner stated that the reason for the press briefing was to roll out the government’s strategies to tackle juvenile crimes and recent social vices in public schools in the state.

Arigbabu said the government would not only announce erring students publicly as a deterrent to others but will also reward and award best-behaved pupils who have distinguished themselves in academics and character.

Arigbagbu said that as a responsible government, it could not sit down and allow continuous misbehaviour in the state’s public schools.

The Commissioner ascribed these misbehaviours to bad parenting, social media, peer group, wrong role models, economic situations.

He also attributed lack of unqualified and unwilling teachers not using the right approach, shortage of teachers, sexual promiscuity, moral laxity, the craze for easy wealth, procrastination, low self-esteem, congestion of classes, security, dual registration and ineffective communication between teachers and learners to the challenges.

He said, “We are taking very serious steps against crimes and criminality in both public and private schools and private school owners should co-operate with us in this fight. We are the ones that give licences to all the private schools and if any of them flout our directives, we can easily have their licences withdrawn.

“Students expelled should not be admitted into any public or private school in Ogun State, that is something that will be very difficult and that is why we put in place what we call the Learner Identification number.

“The E-platform we are using now will make it difficult for dual registration.

“Once you are in a school and you misbehave and you are sent away, it will be very difficult to get into another school in Ogun but, some of them will want to get into private schools in the state, hence the sanction.

“All of us have to be on the same page because if we expel a student from a school it would have been the last resort and we don’t want a situation where the expulsion won’t be effective.”

Arigbabu said the ministry would be holding a series of meetings with security agencies, principals and Heads of Schools, Parents and Teachers Associations and others, to form effective alliances against vices and juvenile misconduct in schools.

The Informant247, a Kwara based online platform has inaugurated a foundation for the training of undergraduates with interest in  journalism.

The Publisher and Chief Executive Officer of the medium, Shola Taofeek revealed this during a get-together to mark its fifth year anniversary.

According to Taofeek, the project named The Informant247 Foundation, will enable beneficiaries to develop their skills and improve their performance in the fields of communication and media industry.

He said the foundation would collaborate with experts and institutions to remove the obstacles faced by trainees.

Taofeeq who announced plans by the medium to go national said the training would be supervised by prominent media professionals and experts across Nigeria and beyond.

“We will combine the practical and theoretical aspects of the courses with 80% emphasis on practice.

“Also, distinguished experts, media professionals and news anchors in addition to doctors and professors have been engaged to offer specialised high-level courses in various aspects of the communication field to the trainees.

“Several training courses in various media fields have been organised in the past in which many trainees, IT and SIWES students from across tertiary institutions in Nigeria benefitted from.

“Many of them are now owners of media platforms and we want to take this step further with our foundation,” he added.

He said in 2022, following review of its activities and the need to cover new grounds from different perspectives, arrangements had been concluded to redefine and extend its reach.

“To this end, we are going nationwide. This means we will give priority, in the coming years, to stories across the country,” he submitted.

Dignitaries at the event include chairman of Kwara NUJ, Ahmed Lateef, member of State Assembly, Razaq Owolabi, Director Community Impact of Abubakar Bukola Saraki Foundation, Ibrahim Otukoko, former aide to Kwara Speaker, Sheriff Ibrahim and Principal, Queen Elizabeth Secondary Senior, Ilorin, Sidikat Lawal among others.

The University of Texas at Austin, United States of America, in collaboration with Carnegie Corporation of New York will be holding an international conference at the Babcock University, Ogun State.

The conference, titled, ‘Partnering for Greatness: Rethinking university education in Africa,’ and scheduled to between January 6 and 7, 2021 is the regional convergence on the impact of private universities on public universities in Africa.

The convener, a Professor of History and the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin, Toyin Falola, revealed that the two institutions were working on the project to study the impact of private universities on public universities in Africa.

“The project seeks to understand the impacts of private universities on public universities in Uganda, Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana through commissioned research and two regional stakeholders convening in Nigeria and Kenya.

Between now and August 2022, I will be hosting over a hundred University administrators and scholars in major conferences. I will also be coordinating country researchers to conduct studies on five African countries — South Africa, Ghana, Libya, Nigeria, and Uganda, he added.

Some erudites scholars expected at the conference are Vice-Chancellor, University of Lagos, Prof. Oluwatoyin Ogundipe, Prof. Biodun Ogunyemi of Olabisi Onabanjo University, Dr Dele Ashiru of University of Lagos, Prof. Ayo Olukotun of Olabisi Onabanjo University, a renowned journalist, Olayinka Oyegbile,  Provost, Federal College of Education, Technical, Lagos, Dr Wahab Azeez, Prof. Olajumoke Yacob-Haliso of Babcock University, Prof. Femi Mimiko of Obafemi Awolowo University, Vice-Chancellor, University of Abuja, Prof. Abdul Rasheed N’Allah, Chancellor, Lead City University, Prof. Jide Owoeye, Prof. Peter Wekesa(Kenya), Prof. John Mary Kanyamurwa (Uganda), and Dr George Bob, (Ghana).