BY MAGNUS EMUJI
School-Based Management Committees (SBMC) and Safe School Initiatives in the school system have been described as pivotal in fostering conducive learning environments, ensuring students’ well-being and empowering educators to excel.
Delta State Commissioner for Secondary Education, Mrs Rose Ezewu said this in Asaba during an advocacy and sensitization meeting organized by the National Senior Secondary Education Commission on the establishment and effective implementation of the School-Based Management Committee (SBMC) and Safe School Initiative (SSI).
Ezewu, who was represented by the Director of Finance and Accounts in the Ministry of Secondary Education, Mr Daniel Akiri, reiterated the state government’s determination to strengthen School Based Management Committees as well as advance Safe School Initiative in the school system in the state.
She also noted that effective School Based Management Committees were crucial for decentralizing decision-making, fostering community engagement and tailoring educational programmes to local needs.
She said that the Safe School Initiative was designed to address pressing concerns such as bullying, violence, and insecurity and create secure places where students could thrive in the academic activities in school, just as she commended the National Senior Secondary Education Commission for the initiative.
Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the National Senior Secondary Education Commission (NSSEC) Abuja, Dr. Iyela Ajayi, represented by Dr. Halima Alhassan said that School Based Management Committee and Safe School Initiative were essential pillars that would strengthen the education system and ensure that it was effective and responsive to the needs of communities.
The NSSEC Executive Secretary explained that through SBMC, the education managers aimed to enhance local participation, promote accountability and encourage innovation. She stated that recent monitoring and evaluation conducted by the Federal Ministry of Education recommended the establishment of SBMCs, the functionality of existing SBMCs and compliance with the Safe School Initiative in schools.
The high point of the advocacy and sensitization meeting was a presentation of a communique where it was recommended among other things that ANCOPSS and the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education should be responsible for the establishment of functional SBMCs and that the Ministry should also ensure that there was the existence of the State Chairman of SBMCS and collaborate with the security agencies to establish Safe School Initiative Centre in the state.
