Minister of Education, Mallam Ibrahim Shekarau, yesterday said the Federal Government in the last four years have provided over N130 billion to state governments to support the development and rehabilitation of infrastructure in basic education schools.

Shekarau also said President Goodluck Jonathan has laid solid foundation for the development of the education sector, which the incoming administration of President-elect, General Muhammadu Buhari, would have no difficulty building upon.

He stated this in Abuja, at the unveiling of the 2014 Federal Ministry of Education Annual Report and the Final Report of Achievements of the 4-year Strategic Plan for the Development of the Education Sector: 2011-2015.

The Minister noted that the Universal Basic Education, UBE, for instance, continues to be the major source of support to states in the delivery of Basic Education.

According to him, “Since 2010, over N137.2 billion has been made available as matching grants through Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC. Added to these are others funds directed at Teacher Professional Development, Special Needs Education and Community Self-Help Projects”.

He said the Federal Government has also achieved a 1:1 pupil to textbook ratio, through support for the provision of instructional materials to public Basic Education pupils.

“The government had within the period under review, distributed over 126 million textbooks and supplementary library materials.

“A key action taken by Jonathan’s administration was the Amendment of the Education Tax Act, which has ensured that the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) is now exclusively dedicated to intervention in the development and rehabilitation of infrastructure in tertiary institutions and also in the capacity development of personnel.

“This Agency provides complementary funding to our public tertiary institutions. Since 2010, the number of public tertiary institutions funded by TETFund has increased from 157 to 183.

“In the same vein, allocations to each University has increased from N303.4 million to N912 million in 2014; for Polytechnics from N180 million to N661 million; and for Colleges of Education from N157 million to N581 million.

“Over N108 billion has also been granted to institutions through the High Impact Intervention. Under this, Universities receive N3 billion each, Polytechnics, N1 billion and Colleges of Education N1 billion,” he said.

The Minister said being a former teacher, the outgoing administration of President Jonathan attached great importance to the professional development of teachers in the country.

Accordingly, he said the Federal Government provided the States with over N24 billion for Teacher Professional Development in the past four years.

“This has enabled over 700,000 teachers and other education managers to take part in one form of professional development activity or the other,” he said.

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