The Secretary for Education FCT Education Secretariat, Dr. Danlami Hayyo paid a courtesy visit to the FCT Secondary Education Board (SEB) on Tuesday 23rd January 2024 during which he commissioned the state-of-the-art FCT SEB Smart Room. This is the ICT hub of SEB that allows for effective global virtual coordination and monitoring of activities at the FCT secondary schools under the Board without physical presence.

The FCT Secondary Education Board was established on 28th December 2004 by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) in line with the provisions of the National Secondary Education Commission decree, to serve as a strategic vehicle for the Provision and Management of Accessible and Affordable Education in FCT Public Senior Secondary Schools, in line with the National Policy on Education.

During the visit, Dr. Danlami Hayyo was warmly welcomed by the Director/Secretary Secondary Education Board, Dr. Mohammed Sani Ladan who expressed his joy at the visit of the FCT Secretary for Education. In his welcome speech, the Dr. Ladan listed some of the achievements since his assumption as the Director/Secretary in October 2022. The achievements included but not limited to the following: development of ICT Smart system which is the central schools' database hub for e-attendance, e-library, e-monitoring, etc; SEB staff's visit to London for BETT; robotics competition in Morocco; training in Brunel University, UK, London, in May 2023; innovative entrepreneurship which will soon give birth to the signing and sealing of MOU between Brunel University and Nigeria to establish a training school in Nigeria etc.

Dr. Mohammed Sani Ladan went further to mention some of the challenges the Board has been facing which included but not limited to the dilapidated buildings in some FCT Secondary schools, the need to employ enough trained teachers to teach core subjects, lack of security personnel in schools, etc. The Director noted and appreciated the landmark achievements of the FCT Minister. He however appealed to the Honourable Minister through the Mandate Secretary, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, for due consideration on the listed challenges. In conclusion, the Director appreciated the Honourable Minister, FCT through the Secretary for Education for the Christmas welfare package (bags of rice) given to all staff.

The FCT Education for Secretary, Dr. Danlami Hayyo was conducted on a tour of the ICT Smart Room. The Coordinator of the Smart Room, Mr. Aminu gave a briefing of the functions and activities of the Smart Room. He explained that schools can be accessed, monitored, tutored and evaluated in the smart room without visiting the FCT secondary schools.

Other activities that can be accessed from the Smart Room include the following: teachers' lesson notes/plans, the e-library, daily staff attendance, login in and out records, etc. Some demonstration activities were conducted in the Smart Room during which school principals logged in and had virtual interactive session without physically converging.

In his address, Dr. Danlami Hayyo Secretary for Education, FCT Education Secretariat, expressed happiness over the~ achievements he saw during his visit with emphasis on the Smart Room, being the first of its kind in the entire FCT. Dr. Hayyo commended the Director and all his staff for their hard work toward impacting knowledge to the students despite all the challenges at hand. He further stated that the Secretariat will partner with the Board to see that all the challenges are resolved accordingly.

Dr. Hayyo also noted the competence of Dr. Mohammed Sani Ladan for piloting the Board to its enviable status. He also emphasized on the career progression of the Director SEB who metamorphosed from being a Class Teacher to Form Master, to Senior Master, to HOD to Vice Principal, and to Cadre of Directorship. He expressed his opinion that Dr. Ladan is certainly a round peg in a round hole in the education sector. He therefore urged all staff members to keep up the good work to move the Secretariat forward as the success of the Board reflects the Achievements of the Education Secretariat.

Reported by:
Oyelola S. Stephen, Deputy Director/Head of EMIS & Research, DPPRS
25th January, 2024