Evaluators skilled in global best practices will ensure standards in schools – Lagos

The Lagos State Government has said it is important for its evaluators to be equipped with international best practices to ensure minimum standards for schools in the state.

The Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance (OEQA), Mrs Abiola Seriki-Ayeni, stated this at end of the executive training programme for management staff on Thursday and Friday in Alausa, Ikeja, which was organised by the OEQA.

Seriki-Ayeni, speaking on the last day of the training, said, “There is a need for school evaluators to be equipped with international best practices for them to manage their roles efficiently and effectively on the minimum standards for evaluation of schools in the state.

“Heaps and heaps of backlog led us to where we are, but there is hope if we look at what we are supposed to do and we are focus by asking what the mandates says.”

The DG noted that the importance of the workshop was to promote synergy between the civil service policy on education and quality assurance based on international specifications to align evaluators’ roles for competence in achieving the expected quality in the management of education in the state.

Seriki-Ayeni added that the two-day workshop was meant for the participants to benefit from the core knowledge of “assuring quality of standard education, the cost, minimum requirements, identifying  the existing gabs, and  coming up with solutions as competent evaluators.”

The Special Adviser to the Governor on Parastatals Monitoring Office, Mr Afolabi Ayantayo, encouraged the participants to know that they are handling a very critical assignment for the state, which should be done effectively.

The Executive Training Programme facilitator, Mr Oluwagbenga Bamgbose, Lead Consultant, GUUT Technologies Limited exposed the participants to the requirements of International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) as a common model for school evaluators to be well informed in carrying out school assessments.

At the closing session, a competence test was conducted for participants to measure their knowledge of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO).