Cube Newsletter 3

Getting ready for ESSPIN 1 Learning the lessons of CUBE 2 & 3 Integrating secular and religious education in Kano 4 Nigeria school plays to the nation 5 Q&A – with ESSPIN's Programme Manager John Martin 6 June 2008 - July 2008 03 CUBE Capacity for Universal Basic Education A Government of Nigeria/ DFID Project 5 6 Welcome Welcome to the final CUBE newsletter, updating you on the final months of CUBE's work and looking forward to the new ESSPIN programme. We'll be producing regular ESSPIN newsletters once the programme gets fully underway... You can contact Daniel Harris, CUBE Communications at: [email protected] Other useful contacts on general CUBE information or issues are: NickSantcross@aol .com– CUBENational ProgrammeManager [email protected]– CUBESenior Policy Adviser As the CUBE project comes to a close, the focus is now on preparing for ESSPIN. The Education Sector Support Programme in Nigeria (ESSPIN) is a significantly larger undertaking that will draw upon many of the lessons learned from CUBE and scale up activity both at Federal level and across as many as seven States over the next six years. Better use of Nigeria’s resources is critical to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and a key aspect of ESSPIN is that it will work alongside DFID’s other Lead State sectoral and governance programmes in Nigeria, such as the PATH S-II health programme, providing a coordinated and interlocking approach to achieve systemic change. a responsive and accountable way to deliver good quality basic education. ESSPIN brings together existing and new partners, including Cambridge Education, the British Council, BBC World Service Trust, Save the Children and Civil Society Action Coalition for Education for All. The project is led by Programme Manager, John Martin, with key technical support from Steve Baines and Nick Santcross. ESSPIN is already effective with the new team coming on board during the latter part of July and August. By early September we expect to be operational in both Abuja and the Lead States to ensure that this integrated approach to reaching the Millennium Development Goals has the best possible start. The first programme outcome will be increased enrolment and attendance for both boys and girls, and a key focus is on tackling gender inequality. The second outcome is to create improved learning environments through better training for teachers, the provision of materials such as textbooks and infrastructure improvements such as water and sanitation facilities. This will improve learning outcomes in basic skills, particularly literacy and numeracy. The third outcome will be greater community involvement in school management. Underpinning these outcomes, ESSPIN will help deliver policies, management systems, financial management and inspection services that use State resources in Getting ready for ESSPIN ESSPIN Key aims • Strengthen ed stewardship role of Government (at Federal, State and LGA levels) • Improved systems for education management at State, LGA and community levels • Increased access to quality primary and secondary education by girls and the poor, and their enhanced achievement within it • Active community participation in raising demand for quality, accessible education, and in monitoring school performance • Health, HIV/AIDS, hygiene, water /sanitation and environ mental issues adequately addressed through the education system. Goodbye to Tris Bartlett – Project Administrator at CUBE. After providing highly ef fective support to the CUBE project, Tris is moving to Egypt where he will be Policy Adviser at the British Council Office. As CUBE comes t o a close, wha t do you think a re the majo r lessons tha t ESSPIN can learn? One of the most important lessons is to build on the strong working relationship that CUBE has developed with the States – listening to their requirements , working cooperatively and reacting to their needs. There have also been a number of lessons about how we should approach areas like teacher performance and school development. CUBE set a lot in motion and ESSPIN will build and expand on that. What are the key challenges for Nigeria, and for the project, that need to be overcome to make ESSPIN work? The biggest challenge is getting children into schools – and alongside this making sure schools deliver high quality education. Schools have to perform well so parents and communities are confident that sending their child there will be beneficial. Part of the problem is also access. We have to make sure all children have the opportunity to attend good quality schools whatever their gender and whatever their background. Apart f rom siz e and s cale, wh at are the key difference between ESSPIN and CUBE? CUBE is a project; it had specific aims and predefined areas of work. As CUBE progressed, it evolved into what ESSPIN will be – particularly in terms of the participation of State and working to their needs. ESSPIN will be a lot more flexible. It is a programme designed to help States put together their own plans for education and then support them in their delivery. What the priorities for the first year of the ESSPIN programme? ESSPIN will be delivered in the three States that participated in CUBE – Kano, Kwara and Kaduna – as well as in between 2 and 4 other Lead States. For those States involved in CUBE, in the first year ESSPIN will continue the momentum generated by CUBE, help the States turn their education sector plans into operational plans and ensure they are properly costed, enter into more detailed plans with the States for progress over the next 4 to 5 years and react to urgent needs as they arise. We'll also be working alongside and cooperating with other national programmes. For the new States, we’ll be reproducing the CUBE process, with an aim to bring them up to speed with the others by the end of the first year of ESSPIN. State Education Journalism Award winners announced The State Education Journalism Awards, a CUBE initiative to encourage greater partnership with the media, announced their winners in July. The Awards have been designed to recognise quality reporting around key themes such as girls’ education, the development of teachers, creating good learning environments, the provision of adequate resources and promoting community support for schools. The prizes of up to $200 went to individual journalists and media houses in each of the three CUBE States. The quality and quantity of the entries have provided the platform for the awards to be scaled up in future years. Community mobilisation activities underway CUBE-support ed community mobilisation activities were taking place throughout July. Communication Committees in both Kaduna and Kano planned a week of campaigning to promote community involvement in schools and to raise awareness of School Based Management Committees (SBMCs). The weeks involved opening schools to the public, radio jingles, school sports activities and visits from senior officials to see the work of SBMCs. SESP LAUNCHES State Education Sector Project (SESP) launched at a high profile ceremony in Kwara in May. Following discussions with the Government of Nigeria, the World Bank education project became ‘effective’ enabling money to be released in the form of credit to the SESP States of Kaduna, Kano and Kwara. The launch ceremony was attended by senior officials of all three States and involved music, theatre and dance. Three documentaries and a Talk Talk debate show, written and produced through the CUBE project, were broadcast on national television in July stimulating discussion on how Nigeria can deliver quality basic education for all. The result of 10 months working closely with schools and communities in Kaduna, Kano and Kwara, Nigeria School followed the individual stories of children, teachers and community members as they face challenging circumstances to learn, teach and provide the basic materials needed to provide a decent standard education. With the production support of the BBC World Service Trust, film maker Chris Morgan, found human stories that were able to highlight fundamental issues for education across the whole of Nigeria. The need for girls to be educated, the lack of adequate teaching resources and the importance of community support for schools were just some of the topics the films documented. The Talk Talk debate programme rounded off the Education Week on national television channel, AIT, with representatives from government, parastatals and civil society exploring the themes in the films and explaining how they believe education in Nigeria can improve. The films have been such a success that there are plans to use them to encourage debate in States, among the education sector at local government and community levels over the coming year. There are also discussions about repeating the project through the ESSPIN project to show the development and improvement in basic education and how it is transforming communities and individuals. Copies of the films will be made available to ESSPIN staff and consultants so they can use them to focus discussion and generate ideas. Nigeria school plays to the nation Q&A – with ESSPIN’s Programme Manager John Martin... Kwara has launched its ambitious approach to education reform in the State, aiming to put children at the very heart of every intervention in the sector. Every Child Counts, which launched on July 22nd by the HonourableCommissioner for Education, Bolaji Abullahi, represents a Charter for Education outlining the responsibilities of the Government, education professionals and communities in helping to shape and transform the quality of teaching and learning. It poses key questions that underpin the approach: • When we put children in schools, what do we expect them to be able to do? • How well are children learning in our schools? • How do we ensure that children learn effectively in our schools? The launch document states: “Every Child Counts seeks to build an education system that we can all be proud of – and feel part of. It is about setting new standards and giving parents and the wider communities a real role in the way schools are run. Above all, Every Child Co unts is an opportunity to enter an arena in which children sit at the very heart of the education system, have new opportunities to learn and new opportunities to blossom into active citizens who are able to make real contributions to our society and our economy.” Every Child Counts sets out the principles of Involving Parents and Communities; Providing Resources; and Setting Standards as the key pillars Kwara launches Every Child Counts newsbites

Cube Newsletter 3

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