The PDP on Monday said it was proud of its achievements, particularly the performance of President Goodluck Jonathan in the education sector in the last four years.
This is contained in a statement issued in Abuja by the PDP National Publicity Secretary, Mr Olisa Metuh.
The statement urged Nigerians to vote for President Jonathan in the 2015 Presidential election to guarantee the future of education in the country.
According to the statement, the PDP-led Federal Government had in the last 15 years, progressively grown the education sector as a social instrument for national development and integration.
It said that the government had done this through vigorous implementation of broad-based policies in keeping with the party`s manifesto and ideology.
The statement applauded Jonathan for accelerating the development of education at all levels in the last four years in the country.
It stated that the President had not only repositioned the public school system but had provided enabling environment for greater participation of individuals and agencies in delivery of education services under government’s regulation.
It further said this was in addition to the massive rehabilitation and upgrade of Federal Government-owned schools; the three-pronged programmes of the Almajiri Education System; the Girl-Child Education and Back-to-School programmes.
The statement said that all of these had 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 the hitherto despaired children.
“Under Jonathan’s watch, enrolment in basic schools has increased from 23 million in 2010 to 29 million in 2012 and still growing,’’ the statement said.
It added that enrolment in Colleges of Education had increased from 620,000 in 2011 to 750,000 in 2013, while that of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) had continued to increase.
The statement said that to guarantee enhanced access to university education, President Jonathan had established 14 new universities across the six geo-political zones of the country.
It said these included two specialised Police and Maritime universities, adding that this had ensured that all states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory had a federal university.
The statement added that as a result of the education-friendly environment created by the PDP-led Federal Government, the number of private primary, secondary and tertiary institutions had also doubled.
It said that this was in addition to the establishment of new NCE-awarding institutions and upgrade of polytechnics for enhanced 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 TET Fund and the special NEEDS Assessment Fund,’’ the statement said.
It said that through the fund, over N500 billion had been spent on various projects to increase access and improve the quality of infrastructure at the tertiary level of the country`s 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,’’ the statement said.
It stated that president’s performance in the sector cuts across the entire spectrum of education in the country.
The statement, however, said that the record of achievements would not have been possible but for the meticulous implementation of policies by the administration and the support of well-meaning Nigerians.
It urged Nigerians to continue to support the president by voting en-masse for the PDP in the 2015 general elections.
The statement said that this would ensure that the gains already recorded in the education and other sectors were consolidated.
Source: vanguardngr
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