The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr David Adejo has declared open the five-day induction programme for 112 newly appointed Principals of Federal Unity Schools in Nigeria.
Mr Adejo while speaking at the opening ceremony held at the conference hall of the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) in the nation’s capital, Abuja congratulated the principals on their success in the just concluded Computer Based Examinations and enjoined them to strive to be good managers of human and material resources in their respective schools.
The Permanent Secretary stressed that the theme of the programme “Leadership and Modern School Management System” was tailored after the need to kick start the new Performance Management System introduced to replace the one-off examination procedure which used to be the final decider for staff performance.
According to him “We are in a changing world where things must be done pragmatically to maximize overall success”.
Adejo stressed that the new system has been designed to reduce truancy, indolence and negligence of duty in the public service by placing importance on the round yearly performance of staff.
He enjoined the principals to be the harbinger of this model adding that they would be held responsible for maladministration and its attendant issues in their respective schools.
Also speaking at the programme, Director General and Chief Executive Officer of the National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration NIEPA NIGERIA Ondo, Professor Olivet Jagusah reiterated that due to the COVID 19 pandemic experienced, the world has been forced to do things differently and to do different things.
The NIEPA boss hinged his assertion on the fact that the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us to devise new ways to continue to drive the education sector unhindered else, we may be heading for dire straits in the years ahead.
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Prof. Jagusah said managing education synchronously is no longer feasible leaving us with no option but to explore asynchronous means of running the education sector.
Th Don said he has begun the migration process at NIEPA Ondo in conjunction with relevant stakeholders.
Professor Jagusah noted that the principals, being heads of fertile learning environments are in a vantage position to initiate this cultural shift.
Head of Training and Research department NIEPA Ondo, Dr Sunday Adegbesan added that “as principals, you have the responsibilities of keeping records, managing finance, maintenance of facilities and ensuring job effectiveness to achieve educational goals and objectives.
” Due to your position, you are expected to acquire different skills in managing the affairs of your respective schools”.
Adegbesan expressed optimism that the training sessions will further build the ability of the principals to help drive the vision and mission of Federal Unity Schools.
The National Institute for Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) domiciled in Ondo, was established in 1992, by the Federal Ministry of Education in collaboration with UNESCO/IIEP Paris, as a sub-regional staff college with the main operational mandate of developing a critical mass of education sector planners and managers for effective and efficient planning and management of the educational system, through capacity building, continuous training, consulting, action research, information dissemination and resource centre services.
The unique service of empowering education sector operators through the provision of specialized and relevant skills in planning, administration and management of education covers Nigeria and the West African Sub-Region at large.