Lagos, Nigeria, February 07, 2016 – Lagos State government has introduced what it called the Lagos State Student Personal Identification Number (LASPIN) that will capture the biometrics of students in all public primary and secondary schools.
Deputy Governor, Idiat Oluranti Adebule who disclosed this in Lagos today explained that the LASPIN will be the unique identity of each student throughout the schooling period.
Adebule who supervises the Education Ministry, pointed out that the transfer process of students in the state would now be streamlined as a result of the introduction of LASPIN as it will not only control but discourage abuse and make the process more transparent.
The Deputy Governor also pointed out that government is determined to improve on the pass rate for Lagos State students at the external examinations particularly WAEC and NECO examinations from the present 37% to not less than 60% by 2019.
She reiterated the commitment of the state government to the adoption of e-curriculum platform to assist teachers in accessing directly the subject curriculum and syllabus as released by National Education Research and Development Council (NERDC).
“The introduction and adoption of the e-curriculum platform would not only assist teachers in accessing directly the subject curriculum and syllabus as released by National Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) but would also guarantee uniformity as well as ease the development of lesson plan and teacher’s guide from the Ministry’s portal,” the deputy Governor opined.
She noted that intensive monitoring and supervision of the teaching and learning activities in schools by the quality assurance office and the need to ensure that course works and tests are challenging enough to meet WAEC/NECO standards are parts of measures that have been put in place in the state in order to achieve the zero tolerance for failure and poor performance in academic students in Lagos Schools.
According to her, improved local and international training and development programmes for teachers and school managers would also be undertaken to enhance their capacity to effectively teach and impart knowledge with dexterity and employing modern tools and methods as well as learn contemporary school management skills.
Said she, “Government will undertake the systematic introduction and exposure to I.T. based teaching and learning tools (e.g. learning tablets) starting from the Senior Secondary level in order to make our teachers and students compete globally and be compliant with modern trend.”
In order to curb the culture of indiscipline and cult activities in the State secondary schools, the Deputy Governor noted that rules and regulation have been firmed up and that students handbooks have been introduced while the use of the black book/list of offenders would be revived in secondary schools in Lagos State.
Dr Adebule stressed that a review of existing teachers handbooks which will be issued to the teachers at no cost would be undertaken in order to continue to promote the right professional conduct and attitude to work among the teachers, stem the spate of illegal admission, dereliction of duty and absenteeism.
