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As we commemorate the Day of the African Child 2024, we reflect on the strides made in improving the educational landscape for children across Africa. This year’s theme, “Education for All Children in Africa: The Time is Now,” resonates deeply with the mission and achievements of EKOEXCEL, an educational reform initiative that has significantly transformed public primary education in Lagos State. Over the past five years, EKOEXCEL has played a pivotal role in reducing learning poverty and providing hope to thousands of pupils, one child at a time.

This International Women’s Day, themed “Invest in Women; Accelerate Progress,” Lagos State stands as a beacon of hope, showcasing how investment in girls’ education empowers them to rewrite their narratives and become the architects of their own destinies. Through the transformative EKOEXCEL program, Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu is proving that quality education is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all, especially girls from low-income backgrounds.

As the world unites under the 2024 International Day of Education, with its theme, “Learning for Lasting Peace,” one bold initiative stands out – Lagos State’s EKOEXCEL program. In just four years, EKOEXCEL has transcended the realm of mere educational reform to become a luminous beacon of hope, demonstrating how education can not only close learning gaps and empower children, but also cultivate the values and skills necessary for building a world where peace prevails.

As the doors of Lagos State’s primary schools reopened for the second term of the 2023/2024 academic year, the excitement was palpable. Pupils eager to learn and parents anticipating good grades were greeted not only by familiar classrooms but also by the tangible evidence of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s unwavering commitment to transforming education in Lagos State. That evidence, EKOEXCEL, continues to deliver on its promise, witnessing the Governor’s vision for excellence in child education and learning become a reality, one child, one classroom, one community at a time.

In commemoration of International Literacy Day, observed on the 8th of September the effort of EKOEXCEL at improving Literacy and Numeracy skills among pupils in Lagos State owned schools must be commended.

This initiative of Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu started in 2019, has emerged as an example of how literacy and numeracy can be revitalised to build a brighter future for thousands of children.

UNESCO’s International Literacy Day was introduced to spotlight the crucial role of literacy in transforming societies and fostering peace and sustainability. Unfortunately, Africa has grappled with low literacy rates for years, with Nigeria being no exception. Statistics have indicated that a significant portion of the Nigerian population struggles with literacy, hindering social and economic development.

The EKOEXCEL programme, a Lagos State Government initiative aimed at elevating primary school education, has achieved outstanding success in the 2023 National Common Entrance Examinations. Pupils from the public primary schools under the EKOEXCEL programme achieved top scores in the results released by the National Examinations Council on July 12, 2023 with pupils scoring as high as 199, just 4 points away from the national best score of 203..

Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s basic education reform programme, EKOEXCEL, which was launched in 2019 to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment, was honoured with the Most Innovative Digital Learning Platform of the Year at the 19th edition of the Titans of Tech Awards, held on the 21 July in Lagos.

The EKOEXCEL programme was also recognised for the same category at the 18th edition of the Titans of Tech awards, held last year, further validating the interventions efficacy.

Declaring the award ceremony open, Femi Pedro, pioneer Banker and former Deputy Governor of Lagos, praised the organiser of the Titans of Tech Africa Award for its consistency over the years.

The International Day of the African Child is observed every year on June 16 with a theme based on the views of children collected from various consultations with children themselves. It was instituted in 1991 by the Organization of African Unity in commemoration of young South African children who protested against education injustice and inequality in the apartheid regime, only to be ambushed and massacred by police on 16 June 1976.

Over 4 decades later, a staggering 244 million girls and boys, between 6 and 18, worldwide are out of school. Almost 100 million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa.

The 2023 theme of the International Day of the African Child is “The Rights of the Child in the Digital Environment,” of which its relevance cannot be understated, considering the epochal shift caused by the digital revolution.

In continuation of efforts to ensure that every pupil becomes a proficient reader and successful in all their academic subjects, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) has trained 11,112 teachers and headteachers for the EKOEXCEL Reading Champion initiative.

The Reading Champions campaign aims to improve literacy, the essential life skill that helps close learning gaps and gives pupils access to the world.

It equips every school leader, teacher and support staff with the technical knowledge and advocacy skills critical to helping Lagos State public primary school pupils become proficient readers.

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL will relentlessly empower children and youths with the requisite skills for a self-reliant future.

The Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, said this at the 2023 Children’s Day celebration, ‘ More Money for Primary Education,’ held at Police College Ground, Ikeja, Lagos.

The 2023 edition of the Children’s Day celebration featured March-Past, symbolic registration of Nursery and Primary One Pupils to the state public schools and cutting of the celebration cake.

Lagos state government’s flagship education transformation initiative, EKOEXCEL, has been featured at the ongoing three day (7th – 10th May) Education World Forum (EWF) in London, England.

This year’s edition of EWF is themed ‘New Beginnings: Nurturing Learning Culture, Building Resilience, Promoting Sustainability. Stronger, Bolder, Better Education by Design.

Education ministers from 118 countries are gathered to address how education has changed and what has been learnt from recent disruption and responses, and what longer term challenge and change should be considered.

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL marks World Book Day by celebrating the incredible milestone of distributing over 300 million learning materials distributed to all 1013 Lagos State public primary schools under the EKOEXCEL programme with close to a million children benefiting.

World Book and Copyright Day is a celebration to promote the enjoyment of books and reading. Each year, on 23 April, celebrations take place all over the world to recognize the scope of books – a link between the past and the future, a bridge between generations and across cultures. It is the date on which several prominent authors, William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Inca Garcilaso de la Vega all died. This date was a natural choice for UNESCO’s General Conference, held in Paris in 1995, to pay a world-wide tribute to books and authors on this date, encouraging everyone to access books. 

Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board ( LASUBEB), yesterday, inaugurated the ‘Situation Room’, the state’s EkoExcel’s education control centre, located within the board to provide real-time monitoring and feedback on pupil’s learning deliveries, attendance, learning outcomes and other key indicators.

In his presentation, the Permanent Board Member in charge of EkoExcel, Hon. Bayo Adefuye, stated that the situation room is data-driven which creates real-time digital transparency throughout EkoExcel system through a bank of computers and wide screens using a computer programme called ‘spotlight’.

According to him,” this room can remotely access digital insights on exactly what is happening in schools, including lesson delivery, attendance and learning outcomes on a micro and macro level.”

To further build upon its impacts, improve its processes and ensure that head teachers and teachers maintain the highest possible standards in giving their best to pupils, the Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) has introduced the Let’s Mark App for the 2022/2023 term two end of term examinations for the EKOEXCEL programme.

Let’s Mark is one of the many digital applications introduced in the EKOEXCEL programme.

As the world marks the 2023 International Women’s Day themed: ‘DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality’, a researcher examines how Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu has used the technology-driven EKOEXCEL initiative to promote gender equity in public schools.

While other parts of the globe have made significant progress in bridging gender inequality in education, sub-Saharan Africa continues to struggle.

A 2020 UNSECO gender report entitled: ‘Progress towards gender parity in education is undeniable’ noted that though, on average, global gender parity of education has been reached, Sub-Saharan Africa is yet to reach this level.

The report disclosed that there are still significant gender gaps in education in many Sub-Saharan African countries.

The Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL shone brightly at the 18th Annual Titans of Tech Awards held at the weekend in Lagos.
The intervention launched in 2019 by Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu to transform Lagos public primary schools through technology deployment, was honoured with the Most Innovative Digital Learning Platform of the Year Award at the major industry event.

Sanwo-Olu describes initiative as game-changer
In yet another affirmation of its successful upskilling of teachers and the attendant improvement in their performances, four Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL teachers have received brand new SUVs and other prizes from Lagos State Government.

EKOEXCEL, the innovative digital initiative launched by the Lagos State Government in 2019 to transform public primary schools, has continued to record impressive results, with three pupils from the state excelling in the recent National Common Entrance Examination (NCEE).

A major new study by 2019 Nobel Prize-winning economist, Professor Michael Kremer’s has been published, looking at the methodology underpinning some of Nigeria’s flagship education reforms.

The Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) is one of the critical stakeholders in Lagos State’s public primary education sector. The body looks out for its members, but it’s also concerned about impactful and positive learning outcomes for pupils, hence its joy with the introduction of EKOEXCEL. The Lagos NUT Chair, Comrade Akintoye Hassan, appraises the transformational intervention.

Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board’s (LASUBEB) EKOEXCEL has called for more cooperation from parents and guardians in raising well-educated children who will fare well in the 21st-century knowledge-based economy and contribute meaningfully to the nation’s growth as adults.

EKOEXCEL’s impressive strides in transforming public primary education by introducing modern pedagogical and technical skills to manage school systems, improve learning outcomes, and develop professional competencies are on showcase at the ongoing Education World Forum (EWF) in Britain, the United Kingdom.

Aletile Afolake, a teacher with the Lagos State Ministry of Education did not see it coming just like many other teachers in the state, till she found herself in a District 6 training hall for digital education.