School Grading Exercise Set to Commence in Lagos State

from L-R- Mr. Otubela Abayomi, President NAPPS, Dr. Femi Ogunsanya, Chairman Curriculum and Planning, Lagos state, Mrs Sewanu Amosu, Director Private Education and Special Programme, Lagos state, Mr Daramola Ibukun, Deputy director Private Education and Special Programme

The committee for curriculum and planning, chaired by Dr Olufemi Ogunsanya met with DEEPEN, Developing of Effective Private Education on 3rd of October 2014 to discuss the way forward with the proposed school grading exercise for Lagos state. Mr. Daramola, in his address, explained that the purpose of grading schools is to ultimately improve the standard of  Education in Lagos State and provide a uniform standard of assessment for schools. He compared this assessment with that of the hospitality sector, stating that the 5 star rating will be adopted. He went further to discuss the benefits of this exercise, noting the following:

1. All Schools shall participate and receive individual Grading Certificate from government.
2. The tool will improve academic standards.
3. The grading process will assist parents in making informed decision on the choice of schools for their wards/children. 
4. The assessment is free of charge
5. Grading is a process  that will help schools identify what it is doing well or not through the self Assessment form. 

 Mr Daramola added that the Ministry of Education (MOE), Developing of Effective Private Education (DEEPEN) and Private School Associations shall be involved in the validation exercise, and that assessment forms are now available for collection. Mr Daramola also mentioned that the exercise will commence in OJO LGA with 1,300 schools in November.

The grading system will work in 3 stages:

• Distribution of self-assessment forms to schools
• Validation of assessment forms shall be done by the Ministry
• Provision of Feedback mechanism to school. Result of the grading exercise shall be published in the print media.

Mrs Chioma (DEEPEN), shed more light on the grading exercise. She talked about the assessment tool in details and explained that schools will receive their grades and certificate officially from MOE as results are published in the newspapers and on the Ministry’s website (www.lasgmoed.com). She added that it is free of Charge and shared the official phone number dedicated for the grading exercise -08150617137.

The Chairman, Dr. Ogunsanya, in her closing remarks thanked the Lagos state government for this laudable initiative, noting that the grading system is very welcome and needful as countries like Singapore/Finland made it as trailer blazers as a result of rigorous training and awareness for educators. She stated that the importance of cooperating and assisting schools is of essence in restoring the quality of Education in Nigeria.

Her concern is that some schools might want to ‘butter- fingers’(bribe) but encouraged members of various associations to sensitive their members and make sure that this exercise is successful.