The minister of Education in Luanda, Luísa Grilo, has defended the need for greater social and effective inclusion of people with special needs in the country’s development process.

According to the minister, who was speaking at the opening of a round table on the theme “building paths in respect of difference for an effective social inclusion”, education is a fundamental human right and one of the main means of access to culture, economic and social development.

According to the Cabinet minister, the Government is committed to investing in education, public policies and articulation with social partners and United Nations agencies.

She added that Government is working to ensure inclusive, equitable and quality education, promoting the opportunity of lifelong learning for all without exception.

Grilo underlined that social and educational inclusion is a constitutional right of people, and it is necessary to continue preparing schools with technical means and adequate materials for the training of professionals, in order to achieve a significant attendance of the heterogeneity of students.

The Minister for Education in Ghana, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has pledged to collaborate with the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Ghana and other mathematics institutions to transform the teaching of the subject and make it more practical.

Adutwum said the contributions of AIMS would be a strong foundation to empower maths teachers and others to be professional, identify the challenges and needs of the students and respond accordingly.

The Minister said this on a virtual platform to commemorate International Day of Mathematics organised by AIMS Ghana on the theme: “Mathematics for a Better World”.

He said the government had invested and prioritised the study of Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics (STEM) to encourage students to focus more on science subjects and improve the country’s growth.

He encouraged mathematics teachers to help demystify the notion that mathematics is difficult and encouraged students to appreciate the importance of the subject for national development.

The minister assured AIMS of the Ministry’s support to encourage students to appreciate that mathematics was not an enemy but a friend.

He commended all mathematicians in the country and across the globe in ensuring that children acquire the necessary tools and understanding of the subject to contribute to national development.

Sokoto State government has purchased about 15,000 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination and Direct Entry forms for onward distribution to prospective students of higher institutions in the state.

The Commissioner for Higher Education Bashir Garba, announced this at a stakeholders’ meeting on the distribution of the forms held at the conference room of the ministry.

During the meeting, successes and challenges encountered during the last year’s exercise were extensively discussed.

The commissioner said the ministry will partner with the ministry for local government affairs and local government councils for the success of the exercise.

He said the ministry would commence the distribution of the forms on April 8.

Prof. Bashir Garba enjoined wealthy individuals to complement government effort in that regard.

The commissioner who was represented by the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Almustapha Othman Ali, thanked the state government for the early approval for the purchase of the forms.

About 937 local contractors have participated in an open bidding for the construction and renovation of public schools and other facilities recently advertised by the Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB).

The bid, conducted in the presence of the contractors, the media and government officials, followed Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s directive about government contracts adhering to public procurement process for transparency and accountability.

Director Human Resource and Administration of KWSUBEB, Gloria Adebisi, said the bids were for years 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 FGN-UBEC-SUBEB’s infrastructural renewal and educational development projects.

Kwara last accessed UBEC funds in 2013. The AbdulRazaq administration paid an outstanding debt of N450m and another counterpart funds of N7.1bn to get Kwara back to the good book of UBEC after years of official backlist.

Others are geo-physical survey and drilling of boreholes with overhead tanks, post COVID-19 hand washing equipment and sanitisers, basic sports development items, basic agricultural development items, conversion/refurbishment of one classroom to digital literacy centre with equipment and polymer groundwork.

Adebisi applauded Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq for his bold steps on the payment of seven billion naira outstanding state counterpart funds which had been long overdue.

The Niger State government has suspended boarding schools in the rural areas of the state to avert further abduction of students by bandits.

The state’s Commissioner of Education, Hannatu Salihu, said this in a statement she issued on Tuesday.

Salihu said the decision was reached at a management meeting with directors of the ministry, zonal directors of Quality Assurance, and heads of agencies.

The commissioner stated that all principals have been provided with specific details in respect of the arrangements as they are expected to work in collaboration with their zonal directors to ensure compliance in light of the demands of current security realities.

She said the government had closed the schools for two weeks to enable it conduct a risk assessment, after which it decided to improve security in the schools.

The reopening arrangement comes six weeks after scores of students and staff were abducted by gunmen in Government Science College in Kagara, Rafi local government area of the state.

The state governor declared the closure of all boarding schools in Rafi and three other neighbouring local government areas the following day.

The students and the staff kidnapped were later released after ten days in captivity.

While boarding schools in rural areas are to reopen as day schools, those in high-risk areas will reopen later as clusters in selected safe areas.