The Benue State Commissioner for Education and Knowledge Management, Rev Dr Fredrick Ikyaan, has unveiled the Benue State Education Portal. He charged education stakeholders to work towards achieving comprehensive and accurate data that gives a true reflection of the state of schools in the State.
The unveiling of the Edu Portal was carried out at a crucial stakeholders’ meeting in preparation for the 2024/2025 Annual School Census, held Thursday at the Benue State Planning Commission Hall, State Secretariat, Makurdi.
The Commissioner charged school administrators, education officers, and stakeholders to take full ownership of the process to guarantee that the data generated would be comprehensive, accurate, and reflective of the true state of schools in Benue State.
“Reliable and accurate data is the backbone of effective planning, policy formulation, and decision-making in education. Without accurate data, we cannot effectively allocate resources, address gaps in our system, or design interventions that will drive the transformation we seek”, he said.
He disclosed that 2024/2025 data collection was designed to cover three years, ensuring that they bridge existing data gaps and provide a more comprehensive foundation for policy and planning. Additionally, he noted that the Benue Edu Portal has significantly transformed data management processes, moving from a cumbersome manual system to a more efficient digital framework, adding that the portal serves as the central hub for all educational data and information management in the state.
Dr Ikyaan mandated all schools in the state to put in place essential facilities, including at least one laptop and an internet-enabled device, to access the Edu Portal. He also said that schools must designate two focal persons who would be trained to handle data collection, processing and submission and be responsible for managing the Education Management Information System (EMIS) at the school level.
He explained that all systems used in schools must be properly configured at the EMIS office before deployment to ensure compatibility, enhance security, and maintain standardization in the education data infrastructure.
Dr Ikyaan urged all stakeholders, government agencies, private school proprietors, development partners, and community leaders to work in unison towards achieving a comprehensive and credible school census. The Commissioner commended the efforts of education officers, school administrators, and technical partners who have remained steadfast in ensuring that the Benue Education Portal functions optimally.
In his remarks, Consultant, Topaz Olivette Nigeria Ltd, Engr Kundam Terpase, noted that the census was geared toward having actual data of school populations in the state for record purposes and planning, saying the state had not made much progress due to the lack of adequate data.”Benue State is ready for the online school system. We have developed the Benue Education portal where students in the state are enlisted to be users, as well as parents and the ministry. With the online portal, all parents can pay school fees, download and access results and report of their wards assignment can also be accessed on the portal “, he stated
The Focal Person EMIS, Mr. Iormough Tuku, disclosed to newsmen that in the last 3 days, they had trained supervisors at a 3-day Train the Trainer workshop, and by next week, will go into the field to train enumerators for the school census. The high point of the event was the demonstration on how to access information on the Edu portal where parents can monitor the activities of their wards like school attendance, assessment, results among others.
