Adekanla Adegoke is the Head of Oando Foundation. She is a development
practitioner with over 14 years experience in programme management, advocacy,
monitoring and evaluation gained across North America, Europe, Bangladesh and
Africa. As one of the pioneer staff, she was instrumental in the establishment of
Oando Foundation in 2011 and has successfully led teams at various levels of
development cooperation and worked with donors and charities on conservation. In
this interview, she spoke on sundry issues bordering on basic education and
revamping the sector. Excerpts:
What is the Oando Foundation all about?
Oando Foundation is an independent charity with a mission to improve access to
quality basic education by empowering millions of children in public primary schools
in marginalized communities across Nigeria. Our ultimate aim is to aim to contribute
to the achievement of SDGs 4, 5 and 17.
Through our signature project, the Adopt-a-School initiative, we are committed to
providing evidence that’s utilizing a holistic and integrated approach to basic
education which includes creating better learning environments, leveraging resources
through partnerships, utilizing best practices and cross-cutting solutions to
improve the overall learning achievements of children in our adopted schools.
Since the Foundation was established by Oando PLC in 2011, we have adopted 88 public
primary schools across 23 states in Nigeria spanning 6 geo-political zones.
The Foundation’s core area of intervention is basic education, why is this so?
It goes without saying that, this sub-sector represents the Foundational stratum
upon which all other tiers, of our educational system, are predicated and nurtured.
When we allow, by design or default, the malformation of this crucial sector, we
compromise the integrity of our socio-economic existence. Youth Unemployment Rate in Nigeria increased to 33.10 percent in the third quarter of 2017 from 29.50 percent
in the second quarter of 2017. We believe education is the greatest investment to
secure sustainable development in the continent.
You will agree that with me that the Education sector in Nigeria is in dire need of
intervention at all levels, we cannot fold our hands and leave the Government alone
to fix, hence the Foundation’s commitment to improving overall learning outcomes of
children in public primary schools.
It is also important to note, fundamentally attitude, behaviour, skills and
competences are imbibed at this basic stage of educational development. Over the
years, we have doggedly demonstrated our commitment to achieving the right of every
child to quality education in Nigeria; working with multi-layered stakeholders,
using integrative and participatory approaches to increase learning opportunities
for children.
We have 10.5 million Out of School Children in Nigeria. What is the Foundation’s strategy in reducing this drastic statistic?
We are aware of these figures and it is quite unfortunate. The most worrisome issue
is the Out-of-School Children phenomenon. Informal Figures range from 8.7- 13.5m
children, the highest in the world. We need to understand the dynamism of
innovation in rapidly changing times, the definition of schools and learning has
shifted radically; where brick and mortar schools are being challenged by borderless
learning, the internet has become the world’s number one classroom and educational
curriculum must change in response to the current dynamics. Therefore, the notion of
a traditional classroom needs rethinking.
According to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistic, one in two persons under the age of 35
are unemployed. Demographic trends reveal 2 out of 7 people on the planet are below
25. For Nigeria, and Africa to leapfrog and benefit from the fourth industrial
revolution loosely referred to as the digital revolution, we have to start with
digital literacy for children and their educators
The Foundation has successfully mainstreamed 42,193 Out of School Children into
adopted schools across 23 states, leveraging existing platforms at the state and
local levels, and utilizing contextualized mobilization plans from the School-Based
Management Committees, Community Coalition Groups, State Universal Basic Education Boards, and development partners such as the USAID Education Crisis Response programme to mobilize and enrol OOSC.
In the North-East and North-West Nigeria 58% and 51% pupils, respectively have never
attended or attend only religious schools. OF has supported State education agencies
with the enrollment of OOSC through the donation of ‘back-to-school kits’’ uniforms,
school bags, sandals, textbooks, writing materials etc, and profiling enrolled
students for ease of tracking and retention.
We have also established 7 Walk-in-centers (WIC) across 5 school communities, built
the capacity of 32 WIC teachers. Our approach is holistic – we believe in a
multi-faceted strategy in reducing these numbers. The Foundation through its
implementing partners (Nigerian Civil Society Organizations) extensively engaged
with various community coalitions (including the SBMCs, Women groups, traditional
councils, religious groups, etc.) to drive the OOSC mobilization process, working
with the existing government education agencies and development partners, especially
in areas with increased number of internally displaced persons. In addition, the
commencement of the school feeding programme in some states where we have adopted schools provided an incentive for children to return to school.
From your Experience, what strategy has been the most effective in bringing
Out of School Children back to School?
A major strategy we have deployed in states where we have adopted schools is
deploying a participatory approach to garner community ownership of schools. Through periodic training, OF strengthens the capacity of School-Based Management
Committees (SBMC) who play a key role in community mobilization and enrolment for
OOSC as well as contribute to the school improvement process. For example, in Local
Government Primary School, Itori-Ewekoro, the SBMC successfully secured a reduction
on pupils’ registration fees from the LGEA, having observed that most OOSC enrolled
where unable to pay the registration fee.
We recognize that effective stakeholder management is critical to the success of our
work; engaging the right people in the right way improves the quality of our
interventions, increases ownership and drives sustainability. Community/Stakeholder
engagement goes beyond people simply being informed and consulted. It includes
people participating and being involved whilst striving for a greater focus and
commitment to improving the overall outcome of our work.
What is the Foundation doing to ensure that Students get the best quality in
terms of classroom experience?
Beyond providing support to relevant Government agency in ensuring we create a
the conducive physical learning environment, it is also leveraging support for school
improvement by strengthening teacher’s capacity, providing teaching and learning
materials (TLMs) including text books in local languages, charts and writing
materials to support learning among OOSC.
Furthermore, the adoption of 21st-century techniques which emphasizes the change in
Teacher-centred techniques to child-centred learning encourage critical thinking.
Eg of best experience in school
To reap the benefit from the fourth industrial revolution, loosely referred to as
the digital revolution, we have to start with digital literacy for children and
their educators. Till date, OF has supported 33 ICT centres with content for
learning and capacity building, trained 2,169 teachers and awarded 1,123 scholarship
to students.
How does the Foundation fund its interventions and activities?
The Foundation derives its support from various stakeholders. Oando Plc is our key
partner and the Foundation leverage on shared services provided by them. This
support in kind covers staffing and operational costs. This significantly reduces
the administrative burden to the foundation.
The sustainability of Oando Foundation’s Adopt-A-School model is hinged on effective
partnerships. In our theory of change, each school is seen as a crucible for
engaging partners nationally and globally. These partnerships to strengthen
programme delivery and outcomes complement the Foundation’s overall objectives.
Over the years we have collaborated with Educate a Child Initiative of the
Education Above All Foundation, , Global Business Coalition for Education, USAID’s
Education Crisis Response (USAID-ECR), North-East Regional Initiative (NERI), DFID’s
Teacher Development Programme (DFID-TDP), Sumitomo Chemical Japan, US Consulate and Theirworld UK, etc.
We will continue to seek partners to assist in all aspects of improving access to
universal primary education.
What approach would you consider effective in retaining Out of School children
in the classroom?
One of the approaches we consider very successful in retaining OOSC is the school
feeding programme. The re-commencement of the programme has proven to be a winner; poverty remains a key factor influencing OOSC enrolment and retention, especially in rural communities where over 80% of our adopted schools are located.
We provide community support through continuous engagement with members of the SMBC who assist in sensitizing, mobilizing and re-enrollment of OOSC. The ancillary costs of education (registration fees, School Uniform, textbooks, School Feeding) are key
drivers for the increased dropout or non-enrolment of children of school age. For
example, in Local Government Primary School, Itori, Ewekoro in Ogun State, the SBMC
successfully secured a reduction on pupils’ registration fees from the Local
Government Education Authority (LGEA), having observed that most OOSC enrolled where unable to pay the registration fee.
Has the free basic education scheme helped in bringing out of school children
back to class?
An emphatic Yes! In 1999, the Nigerian Government introduced Universal basic
education, a programme designed to provide free primary and secondary education in
the country. This was given further credence when the Universal Basic Education
(UBE) bill was passed into law in 2004. Since then, we can argue that major
milestones have been achieved in this sector, but a lot still needs to be done,
especially with regards to reducing the number of out of school children.
How is the Foundation engaging with other Stakeholders to scale and increase
sustainability of your programmes?
The Foundation thrives on progressive partnerships with Government and other private sector actors both local and international. We engage all government bodies
responsible for basic education in our communities. We will continue to prioritize
participatory approaches in programme sustainability, working with our implementing
partners, key government structures at the state and local level, and community
groups to ensure sustainability of projects executed. Leveraging our strategic
partnerships with key organizations including the Educate-a-Child (EAC) Qatar,
USAID’s Education Crisis Response (USAID-ECR), North-East Regional Initiative
(NERI), DFID’s Teacher Development Programme (DFID-TDP), Sumitomo Japan, and
Theirworld UK, etc., the Foundation is poised to consolidate on our joint
partnership, thereby further deepening the overall programme quality, and utilizing
evidence from our theory of change and early outcomes to advocate for improvements
in the basic education sub-sector. This necessitated our joint effort with the
Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in bringing together under a roof, key
players in the organized private sector to explore opportunities for scaling up
support for the basic education sub-sector in Nigeria.
If you were to advise the Federal Government on what approach to revitalize
our crippling Education sector, what would you tell them?
Increased funding of the education sector. The allocation of 7.04 per cent to
education in the proposed 2018 budget is unacceptable. Increased funding of
education in the country will have a ripple effect on other sectors. Even among
countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we are lagging behind less endowed nations in terms
of our investment in education. The Government needs to do more in this regard.
