The state government in partnership with the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment Project (AGILE), a scheme of the World Bank, has commenced distribution of 2,600 laptops to 100 secondary schools to aid learning and skills development.
Speaking on the initiative at the launch of the project organised in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the wife of the governor, Olayemi Oyebanji, said AGILE would complement the government’s free education scheme.
“The AGILE project is designed to respond to the challenges and constraints adolescent girls faced in accessing and completing secondary school education. I am glad that the project is supporting the state’s efforts at enhancing academic, digital and life skills of our adolescents.
“It gives fillip to the government’s determination to groom a mass of adequately equipped youths who are global-ready,” she said.
Oyebanji said 900 laptops would be distributed to 35 schools, while 65 other schools would get 1,600 laptops in the next two months.
Earlier in 2022, the World Bank, under project AGILE allocated $25 million to the Ekiti government to uplift the standard of education in the state.
The fund according to the Oyebanji is to be used to provide laptop personal computers, renovate schools and provide instructional materials towards improving access to education for the girl child.
During her remarks, the state’s Deputy Governor, Monisade Afuye, commended the state government for partnering with the World Bank for the full implementation of AGILE scheme.
She said the scheme would help to stem spiralling teenage pregnancies, early marriages and school dropout figures – the cankerworms destroying the society and creating gender imbalance.
Afuye said AGILE scheme would help girls from poor backgrounds climb the ladder of education without encumbrances. The scheme, she added will also catapult e-learning to a higher pedestal for Ekiti students to compete with their counterparts elsewhere.
Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, Ekiti House of Assembly Committee on Education, Bode Adeoye, pledged legislature’s readiness to initiate legislation that will ensure the programme becomes sustainable.
“Education is the main industry in our dear state, so promoting girl-child education is one priority we should all support. Women are no longer taking the backseat in Ekiti. We know that AGILE will also help in widening the girl-child’s access to education,” he said.
While speaking on the importance of the scheme, the AGILE state coordinator, Yewande Adesua, thanked the state government for taking up the challenge.
NAN
