The Chairman of Lagos State Universal Basic Education Board, LASUBEB, Mr. Wahab Alawiye-King has challenged social mobilisation officers in the basic education sub-sector of the State to effectively carry out their task of sensitising members of the public, especially education stakeholders, on the various ongoing reforms and technological transformation in the education sector as well as COVID-19 safety protocols.

He gave the advice recently during a two-day capacity building exercise for the social mobilisation officers in the various Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) and the State Universal Basic Education Board.

Alawiye-King charged the participants to enlighten the public on the giant strides in the education sector as well as increase public awareness on the deadly coronavirus pandemic that is ravaging the State, adding that, by so doing, the efforts and investments of the Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu led administration in advancing the education sector and stemming the spread of the virus can better be appreciated.

In his words, “This is a very critical period that we need to empower our social mobilising officers and give them the necessary skills required to deal with the current situation. We have seen what COVID-19 has done across the world and in order for the officers to be up and doing, we have brought them together to expand their knowledge, broaden their horizon and make sure they are up to the task of handling the assignment in line with modern techniques, so as to effectively engage with stakeholders”.

The Board Chairman equally charged the mobilisation officers to sensitise the public on the various initiatives of the State Government aimed at bridging the social-economic impacts of the pandemic on parents and their wards as well as minimise learning loss among pupils.

While noting that programmes such as ‘Project Zero’, ‘The Classroom in Your Home’ and the free ‘EKOEXCEL MP3’ players should be the major focal points of their sensitisation campaign, he said the initiatives will greatly reduce the menace of Out-Of-School-Children and encourage enrolment, retention and completion rates of pupils in the State.