WORLD BANK TO ADOPT ANAMBRA'S EDUCATION MODULE

World Bank officials from Abuja, led by the Country Director, Me Marie Francoais Marie-Nelly, arrived in Awka yesterday for the kick-off of the Anambra State Education  Programme Investment Project(SEPIP), which is part of his “Final Push,” towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

. The project involves $150 million among Anambra, Ekiti and Bauchi state Speaking on the project, the Senior Education Specialist for the World Bank, Prof. Tunde Adekola said Anambra State was selected for World Bank intervention because Governor Peter Obi demonstrated accountability by using available resources to deliver better education results.
. He said that the World Bank would adopt Obi’s direct disbursement of resources to end-users since it had evidently worked in the state
. Adekola said the criteria for selection was based among states that had demonstrated great support to education on their own, while the World Bank was working to encourage them.
 “We shall from time to time evaluate what Anambra is doing. Once we see improvement as it is now, we shall offer more support.”
.  Part of the assistance will go in the area of special employment and training of teachers in core subjects of English, Mathematics and the Sciences.
.  The delegation later visited Queen of the Rosary Secondary School, Onitsha, Dennis Memorial Secondary School, Onitsha; and Christ the King College, Onitsha witnessed the handing over of the cheques of N30 million to the three schools for continued infrastructural development and said that they were impressed by what they saw in the three schools.
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   The World Bank had to commission the team from Oxford University led by Prof. Collier to study what Anambra State is doing in the education sector that led to the noticeable improvement.
.  Meanwhile, Obi has presented a cheque of N1.5 billion to the schools in the state as part of the continued efforts by his government toward their rehabilitation, assuring that he was committed to all levels of education.
.  Marie-Nelly said she was overwhelmed by the level of infrastructure she witnessed in schools in the state and thanked the governor for that.
  She advised students to work hard to enable them equip themselves adequately to compete with others anywhere across the world. She said with internet connectivity and computers in schools in Anambra State, she was confident the state was on the right path.
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