Kwara state profile

State and LGA

ESSPIN is helping the state make better use of its resources to plan, manage, deliver and monitor services. The Kwara State Education Sector Performance Report has been finalized based on thec2009/2010 Annual School Census which captured realistic education data for the state. The report will feed into the current planning and budgeting cycle of the state government.

Through ESSPIN's support, Kwara state has established the Quality Assurance Bureau (QAB), a single body responsible for monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in all schools. The QAB has developed a handbook for school evaluation which Quality Assurance Officers will use to measure the quality of all schools against uniform and objective criteria.

School

With ESSPIN's support, the State School Improvement Team (SSIT) was established in 2009 and saddled with the responsibility of ensuring quality improvement in schools. To achieve this, the SSIT is supporting the Local Government Education Authority advisory staff to train (Assistant) Head Teachers on leadership and management and teachers on numeracy and literacy.

Trainings for Primary 1-3 teachers are scheduled for completion in 2010 while trainings for Primary 4-6 teachers will hold in 2011. The trainings are being conducted in collaboration with the College of Education, Oro. The College has undergone considerable reforms to enable it serve as an effective pre-service trainer of basic education teachers.

Community

Building up government capacity and providing help to schools and communities is one of ESSPIN's mandates in Kwara State. The State has been supported with provision of boreholes and toilets to needy schools. This is complemented by support for the establishment of school health clubs to ensure that the facilities are maintained and that the children use them properly.

The State has also through ESSPIN's support commenced process for the establishment of School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) in 4 pilot Local Government Areas (LGAs). An SBMC Task Team has been constituted to facilitate the establishment working with six Civil Society Organisations and the Department of Social Mobilization of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to sensitise, mobilize, train and mentor community representatives to participate in school governance.

Key Facts Based on the 2009/10 Annual School Census

• No schools in this State run double shifts
• There are over 267,300 primary school children in Kwara State (47.7% Female 52.3% Male)
• In Senior Secondary School there are just over 82,700 enrolled, 44.3% of whom are girls
• There are approx 17,200 primary school teachers employed, 9,900 of whom are female.
• The Kwara primary pupil/teacher ratio is 12:1 and 14:1 when considering only qualified teachers
• At SSS level the pupil teacher ratio is 14:1 and the pupil to qualified teacher ratio of 16:1
• Approx 25% of all teachers in the State received training in the last 12 months.
• There are approx 7,100 primary classrooms, 89.9% of which are usable. (Approx 34 pupils per classroom in primary).
• 28% of primary classrooms have sufficient seating and 67.9% have a good blackboard
• 65% of primary schools have no source of safe water
• 85.4% of primary schools have no toilet. The average pupil to toilet ratio is 309:1. The worst LGA for pupil to toilet ratio at primary level is Kaiama LGA with a ratio of 1100 pupils per toilet.
• All children progress from primary school to JSS.