Fashola Splashes N256m on 128 Schools for Academic Excellence

According to news reports, the governor presented a cheque of N2 million to each of the schools at the 2012 Governor's Education Awards held in Ikeja.
 
Fashola said the award, a brainchild of the Lagos Eko Project, was aimed at promoting healthy competition among public schools.
 
The governor announced that best two secondary school principals in each of the six education districts in the state would be sponsored for overseas leadership training.
 
He said the government would expand the awards to improve students` performances.
 
``This award is an initiative that compels us to diligently monitor performances of our schools and the school leaders.
 
``The ultimate objective is to promote academic excellence. The schools are to spend the N2 million on development projects.
 
``This should motivate the school heads to work harder as well as boost their competence,’’ Fashola said.
 
He noted that the Eko Project, a 95-million-dollar World Bank education intervention fund, had significantly improved school infrastructure.
 
Fashola said the administration had just approved the recruitment of 1,200 teachers to reduce the teacher-pupil ratio.
 
The coordinator of the project, Ms Ronke Azeez,said the schools were selected based on their effective management and the performance of their pupils in major examinations.
 
``The project, which made funds available directly to the schools for their needs, had raised their performance from about 30 per cent in 2009 to about 50 per cent in 2011.
 
``The target is to achieve a minimum of 80 per cent performance and a total transformation of the education sector.’’