Future of education secured under Jonathan –PDP

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the nation has witnessed tremendous strides in the education sector under the present administration  in the last four years.
Appraising gains and challenges of the sector, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, in a statement, urged Nigerians to vote for President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential election to guarantee the future of education in the country.

The statement saluted the President for accelerating the development of education at all levels in the last four years, as it noted  that “President Jonathan has not only repositioned the public school system but has also provided the enabling environment for greater participation of private individuals and agencies in the delivery of education services under government’s regulation.
“This is in addition to the massive rehabilitation and upgrade of Federal Government-owned schools as well as the three-pronged programmes of the Almajiri Education System, the first of its kind; the Girl-Child Education and Back-to-School programmes, all of which have drastically reduced the out-of-school children profile in the country, particularly in the North.
“The 150 Almajiri schools across the Northern states and the Out-of-School-Children Programme including Specialised Boys and Girls Schools across the country have given meaning to the lives of hitherto depressed children. “Under Jonathan’s watch, enrollment in basic schools has increased from 23 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2012 and still growing.
“In the same vein, enrollment in colleges of education has increased from 620, 000 in 2011 to 750,000 in 2013.  Also, the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) established by the PDP is expanding to 250, 000 enrollment annually.”
Metuh further noted that President Jonathan had redeemed his pledge  to the Nigerian electorate in 2011 to establish more universities and in the process, expand access to tertiary education.
“To guarantee enhanced access to university education, President Jonathan established 14 new universities, (9 in the northern states of
Kogi, Taraba, Jigawa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Katsina, Yobe, Kebbi and Zamfara
States and 3 in the southern states of Ebonyi, Bayelsa and Ekiti) including two specialized Police and Maritime universities, thereby ensuring that all states of the federation and the Federal Capital
Territory have a federal university.
“Of course, the number of private primary, secondary and tertiary
institutions has also doubled as a result of the education-friendly
environment created by the PDP-led Federal Government.
“This is in addition to the establishment of new NCE awarding institutions and
upgrade of strategic polytechnics for e0nhanced service delivery in the
country.
“Again, in line with its commitment to the proper funding of the sector, the Federal Government has almost tripled education allocation from N224
billion in 2007 to 634 billion in 2013.
“This has been complemented with the creation of special intervention
agencies such as TETFund and the special NEEDS assessment fund through which over N500 billion has been yspent on various projects to increase
access and improve the quality of infrastructure at the tertiary level
of our education system.
“To guarantee quality education, the Jonathan administration has also sponsored over 5, 867 lecturers of federal and state tertiary
institutions for post-graduate studies, out of which 1,375 were
sponsored overseas.
“School curriculum was also reviewed in line with national development
objectives while public-private partnership was strengthened with major publishers for the development of basic and senior secondary school
textbooks.”
Stating that President Jonathan’s performance in the sector cuts across
the entire spectrum of education in the country, the PDP said the record
of achievements would not have been possible if not for the meticulous
implementation of policies by the administration and the support of
well-meaning Nigerians.
The party  therefore admonished Nigerians to continue to support President
Jonathan and ensure that the gains already recorded in the sector were consolidated by voting en-masse for the PDP in the 2015 general elections.
Future of Education/mac hd Future of education secured under Jonathan – PDP
FROM TAIWO AMODU, ABUJA
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has said the nation has witnessed tremendous strides
in the education sector under the present administration  in the last four years.
Appraising gains and challenges of the sector, National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa
Metuh, in a statement, urged Nigerians to vote for President Jonathan in the 2015 presidential
election to guarantee
the future of education in the country.
The statement saluted the President for accelerating the development of
education at all levels in the last four years, as it noted  that “President
Jonathan has not only repositioned the public school system but has also provided the enabling
environment for greater participation of private
individuals and agencies in the delivery of education services under government’s regulation.
“This is in addition to the massive rehabilitation and upgrade of
Federal Government-owned schools as well as the three-pronged programmes
of the Almajiri Education System, the first of its kind; the Girl-Child
Education and Back-to-School programmes, all of which have drastically
reduced the out-of-school children profile in the country, particularly
in the North.
“The 150 Almajiri schools across the Northern states and the Out-of-School-Children Programme
including Specialised Boys and Girls
Schools across the country have given meaning to the lives of hitherto depressed children.
“Under Jonathan’s watch, enrollment in basic schools has increased from
23 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2012 and still growing.
“ In the same vein, enrollment in colleges of education has increased from 620, 000 in
2011 to 750,000 in 2013.  Also, the National Open University of Nigeria
(NOUN) established by the PDP is expanding to 250, 000 enrollment
annually.”
Metuh further noted that President Jonathan had redeemed his pledge  to the Nigerian electorate
in 2011 to establish more universities and in the process, expand access to tertiary education.
“To guarantee enhanced access to university education, President Jonathan established 14 new universities, (9 in the northern states of
Kogi, Taraba, Jigawa, Gombe, Nasarawa, Katsina, Yobe, Kebbi and Zamfara
States and 3 in the southern states of Ebonyi, Bayelsa and Ekiti) including two specialized Police and Maritime universities, thereby ensuring that all states of the federation and the Federal Capital
Territory have a federal university.
“Of course, the number of private primary, secondary and tertiary
institutions has also doubled as a result of the education-friendly
environment created by the PDP-led Federal Government.
“This is in addition to the establishment of new NCE awarding institutions and
upgrade of strategic polytechnics for e0nhanced service delivery in the
country.
“Again, in line with its commitment to the proper funding of the sector, the Federal Government has almost tripled education allocation from N224
billion in 2007 to 634 billion in 2013.
“This has been complemented with the creation of special intervention
agencies such as TETFund and the special NEEDS assessment fund through which over N500 billion has been yspent on various projects to increase
access and improve the quality of infrastructure at the tertiary level
of our education system.
“To guarantee quality education, the Jonathan administration has also sponsored over 5, 867 lecturers of federal and state tertiary
institutions for post-graduate studies, out of which 1,375 were
sponsored overseas.
“School curriculum was also reviewed in line with national development
objectives while public-private partnership was strengthened with major publishers for the development of basic and senior secondary school
textbooks.”
Stating that President Jonathan’s performance in the sector cuts across
the entire spectrum of education in the country, the PDP said the record
of achievements would not have been possible if not for the meticulous
implementation of policies by the administration and the support of
well-meaning Nigerians.
The party  therefore admonished Nigerians to continue to support President
Jonathan and ensure that the gains already recorded in the sector were consolidated by voting en-masse for the PDP in the 2015 general elections.