Lagos to upgrade colleges of education, polytechnic to universities

The Lagos State Government has said the two-state colleges of education, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Ijanikin and Sir Micheal Otedola College of Primary Education, Epe, will be upgraded to universities of education, while the Lagos State Polytechnic would be upgraded to a university of science and technology.

This was disclosed on Friday by Tokunbo Wahab, Special Adviser on Education to the Governor of the state, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at the yearly ministerial briefing to commemorate the governor’s second anniversary in office.

According to him, the process for the upgrade had been approved by the state governor and the state executive council, noting that a formal announcement would be made by the governor soon.

He noted that the decision was based on the discrimination between the certificates issued by colleges of education and polytechnic, which also affected the enrollment level.

Furthermore, he said about N436 million has been paid as scholarship and bursary to indigent and outstanding students and pupils.

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“Lagos State Scholarship Board paid about N219m as bursary award to 6411 students of Lagos State origin in various higher institutions of learning to support their education while about N218m was paid as a scholarship award to 981 beneficiaries,” Wahab said.

Also, the special adviser said about 120,000 students and pupils in public primary and secondary across the 720 schools in the six educational districts of the state have been trained in the area of basic computer skills, coding skills, cloud services and world wide web internet technology, among others, through the Digital Skills Initiative of the state government.

Similarly, the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo said the state government conducted the monitoring and e-registration exercise of 45,447 students in all public senior secondary schools.

“Mr Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu paid N680 million to West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) for the registration of the captured students for West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) 2020. This gesture by the administration of Governor Babajide is poised towards reducing the burdens of parents and expanding access to free and quality education,” Adefisayo said.

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