The permanent secretary of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Sir Christian Ohaa, has stressed the need for accurate data collection for proper planning and development of the education sector.
Ohaa stated this at the flag-off of the 2018/2019 FCT level Annual School Census, ASC, which took place at the Government Secondary School, Zone 3 Abuja.
He called on all principals of schools in the FCT to ensure that accurate, valid and reliable data of all schools were made available on time.
According to him, "every school Head or Principal, including the Military, Paramilitary, Federal Unity colleges and private schools are expected to provide all information on learners, teachers, infrastructure, facilities, programs and activities of their various schools", stressing that every child must be counted..
Ohaa warned that it was illegal to falsify data submitted for the purpose of the school census, adding that such offence carries a heavy penalty.
He debunked the misconception that data gathered during the exercise would be used to levy schools and reiterated that all information gathered will be utilized for policy formulation, decision making, and planning.
In his words, "I cannot emphasize enough that collection of data is for policy formulation, decision making and planning purposes only. It is certainly not for school levy or other misconceived purposes. In the coming weeks, the exercise will begin all over the territory and I call on all stakeholders to cooperate fully with the officials carrying out this exercise in our educational establishments all over the FCT".
Earlier in his address, the Director, Administration and Finance of the Education Secretariat, Alhaji Umar Marafa, represented by the Deputy Director in charge of administration, Mr. Abdulrazak Leramoh, said the exercise would be carried out in all basic and post basic schools across the six Area Councils of the FCT.
He urged all school heads and principals to work with officers of the Department of Policy Planning, Research and Statistics, DDPR&S, of the secretariat.
Also speaking, the Ag. Director, Department of Policy Planning, Research and Statistics, DPPRS, Dr. Sunday Idakwoji, stressed the need for collaboration and cooperation among the various education stakeholders and called for the success of the exercise which, he said, was aimed at improving educational data collection and management in the FCT for better planning.