As part of efforts to ensure that the School Based Management Committees in the Federal Unity Colleges' operations meet expected outcomes, the Federal Ministry of Education has nominated management staff to serve in them.
While inducting the staff members on Thursday, 19th September, 2013 in Abuja, the Director of Basic and Secondary Education, D. C. Uwaezuoke noted that the use of School Based Management Committees (SBMC) which was approved by the National Council of Education in 2005 was adopted as a management strategy to raise the dwindling standard of education in the country. He averred that Government alone cannot bear the cost of providing quality education in the ever-expanding education sector without the active involvement of the private sector.
He said: "SBMC's strategy is primarily aimed at harnessing complementary private sector resources – human and material to augment government efforts at developing the education sector. It is also supposed to serve as a vehicle for effective community participation in the management of education for the benefit of all."
According to the Director, for effective monitoring of the activities of SBMC in the Federal Unity Colleges, a guideline has been provided to serve as a check on uniformity in the activities of the SBMCs. He urged the ministry's representatives to ensure that the terms of reference and objectives of SBMCs as outlined in the guidelines are complied with, stressing that they are the light of the ministry.
In a brief presentation on the concept of SBMC in the school system, O. E. Kalu said that school-based management is an emerging global trend which became prominent in the early 1980s in countries like Australia and New Zealand. He further explained that in those countries, it was observed that public schools often lacked positive school cultures and did not enjoy the same degree of confidence as their private school counterparts where the parents and communities were more involved in school decision-making.
She added that the school-based management committee system is an initiative meant to improve bottom-up education planning & management, in order to facilitate improvement in education quality, participation and efficiency.
Source: Education Ministry places management staff on Unity Colleges' school based management committees. (http://fmi.gov.ng/latest/30347/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=education-ministry-places-management-staff-on-unity-colleges-school-based-management-committees)
Federal Ministry of Information (FMI) Nigeria