The Lagos State Government said on Thursday that it had paid the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) fees for students over a four-year period, totaling N4.2 billion.At the 67th National Council on Education (NCE) meeting in Ikeja, under the topic "Addressing the Challenges of Policy Implementation: A Panacea for the Achievement of Education 2030 Agenda," Sanwo-Olu made this statement.
The governor said that the government has not fallen behind on paying WAEC fees for any SS3 public school student. The governor was accompanied by Mr. Jamiu Alli-Balogun, Commissioner for Primary and Basic Education.
He said that the regulation requiring the payment of the examination fee was implemented in 2000, the year President Bola Tinubu took office as governor of Lagos State.
He claims that the intervention began with N200 million in 2000 and has grown to require over N1 billion in funding each year.
"To guarantee that no student is left behind in the secondary school level of education, we have paid over N4.2 billion in fees for the West African Senior School Certificate Examination for our public school students over the last four years," he stated.
Regardless of a person's gender or aptitude, Sanwo-Olu stated that the government also prioritizes providing easy access to education.
He added that the Lagos Compulsory Free Universal Basic Education Law of 2005 brought free education to the basic and secondary levels by the government.
According to the governor, the law mandated parents and guardians to make sure that any child in their care who was of school age attended school. It also outlined a policy of providing free, mandatory, universal basic education for all children of primary and secondary school age.
He claimed that as the sector has continued to witness an increase in the number of kids enrolled in certain learning levels, this has been producing the intended outcome.
According to Sanwo-Olu, the sector has also witnessed a rise in the number of schools in the state's rural and developing areas.
He claimed that in order to promote simple access to secondary education, a total of six secondary schools were created between January and November with government consent.
The governor claimed that despite the addition of 21 additional adult literacy centers to the current ones, no adult was left behind.
The Lagos State University of Technology and the Lagos State University of Education were the two new universities that we also founded. The goal of all these initiatives is to provide our burgeoning youth and adolescents more options.
These previously mentioned rules have drawn a large number of students from around the nation. Every state in Nigeria is represented in the student registration for our public schools.
"We have decreased the number of children who are not in school by bringing 11,957 students back to class and giving them uniforms through our Project Zero Program.
There is no denying that the caliber of education provided to a country's youngsters has a direct bearing on its socioeconomic progress.
In order to guarantee that policies are implemented effectively and efficiently across the federation, he stated, "this august body must ensure appropriate strategies and policies are put forward."
According to Sanwo-Olu, his administration made an investment in digital gadgets as a responsive government, continuing the goal of fusing technology and education to improve the educational system and bring it up to date with global standards.
He said the administration had launched over 1,449 initiatives, encompassing 1,036 schools across all 20 LGAs and 37 LCDAs, in an attempt to enhance teaching and learning in the state's primary and secondary schools.
The governor stated that among other infrastructure initiatives, these projects included building, remodeling, and revitalizing deteriorating public schools as well as providing composite furniture sets to schools.