The World Bank is to provide 40 million dollars to Anambra for the development of education, Mr Irajen Appasamy, the bank’s Senior Operations Officer on Education, has said.
Appasamy said this in Awka on Monday at a meeting between the bank, National Bureau of Statistics and the Federal Ministries of Education and Finance.
The meeting was aimed at strengthening statistical production and usage for better results.
He disclosed that the bank planned to contribute a total sum of 150 million dollars to three pilot states, including Anambra, Ekiti, Bauchi as well as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The official said that the fund which would be released within the next two months would assist the states to prepare projects focused on achieving results in the education sector.
“We are working with Anambra to prepare a project which is focused on education results.
“It is different from the traditional approach of focusing on educational input that include employment of teachers, provision of text books, equipment, furniture and other infrastructure
“Rather, the approach is to focus on what result the participating states want to achieve, establish milestones to achieving them and how to measure such results for future references.
“So, the idea is to have a sizeable amount of funding which can indeed create the enabling incentives that will bring about the desired result based on the state’s education planned priorities.”
He further explained that there was no counterpart funding required by the participating states, noting that they were only required to show commitment, leadership, transparency and accountability in the execution of their projects.
Earlier, the state Commissioner for Budget and Economic Planning, Prof. Stella Okunna, described the selection of Anambra for the donation as a reward.
“Part of the reward is because Anambra is known for executing projects with data and statistics.
“The state was also the first to enact a law in 2009 and establish a Bureau of Statistics,” she noted.
Okunna said that the state had already received the donation of a Hilux utility vehicle, 30 motorcycles, computers and GPS machines in appreciation of the role of Gov. Peter Obi in the use of statistics for governance.
In her remarks, the state Commissioner for Education, Dr Uju Okeke, said that the state was passionate about developing the education sector.
Okeke explained that it was for that reason the government gave back schools to their original missionary owners to enhance proper teaching and learning.
In an interview, the Deputy Director, Multi-Lateral education, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Fabiyi Abiodun, stressed the need for states to have reliable statistical data to realise the objectives in the education sector.
He commended the state government for establishing education management and information system.
