Academic Services

Mrs. Roseline Medubi heads Academic services, was born on 28^th October, 1965 in Kabba, Kabba-Bunu Local Government, Kogi State. She attended Methodist Primary School, Kabba, from 1971-1977 and St. Barnabas Secondary School,Kabba,1977-1982. She preceded to the School of Basic Studies, Ilorin for her “A” level and graduated in 1984. She graduated from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State with a B.Ed. Educational Management in 1988. She undertook her National Youth Service in Federal Polytechnic, Birnin-Kebbi under the then Sokoto State from 1988-1989. She obtained her M.Ed. in Education Planning and Administration, 2006 from the University of Lagos. Mrs. Medubi started her working career with the defunct National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) in 1989 as a Research Officer II. NPEC was later reconstituted as Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and she continued her career there. She rose through the ranks where she held various positions in Universal Basic Education Commission such as Monitoring Officer,Quality Assurance Officer, State Coordinator and Director, Zonal Director before assuming the position of the Academic Services in 2020 to date. She is happily married with children.

Mrs. Rose Medubi

Director, Dept. of Academic Services

Introduction

The Department of Academic Services came into existence in 2004 after a major restructuring of the UBE programme following the signing into law of the UBE Act in May, 2004. The Department is vested with the responsibility of coordinating curriculum development, Early Childhood Care Development and Education (ECCDE), provision of instructional materials, library development, sports development, Agricultural Science and Education, Guidance and Counseling, quiz and debate, Coordinating the participation of the Commission at the Joint Consultative Committee Meetings (JCCE) as well as the National Council on Education (NCE) meeting amongst others.

Consequently, the mission of the Department is to stimulate innovation and creativity in the implementation of basic education delivery through proper coordination, synergy of activities and provision of quality education support services.

Functions of the Department

The functions of the Department include the following:

Handling of all correspondence on instructional materials that involves States, International Development Partners, Authors and Publishers amongst others.
Coordinating the monitoring, availability and utilization of Instructional Materials supplied to the states using FGN/UBE intervention funds on yearly basis and develop a National report thereafter;
Assessing Actions Plans from States on Agricultural Education and Sports Development
Coordinating the smooth implementation of Agricultural Education Programs to build pupils interest and catch them young into early entrepreneurship life style;
Coordinating the Monitoring of the Status of Agricultural and Education Training(AETP) programme across the states and FCT.
Reviewing of library Resource materials to be procured for the Basic Education School Libraries across States and FCT.
Providing of e-learning resources across the States and FCT as well as facilitating the monitoring and upgrading of the centres across the country in line with global standards.
Stimulating the provision and coordination of functional libraries as well as classroom collections for all UBE target groups for the enhancement of learning-to-learn skills and reading habit for life-long literacy;
Promoting Physical and Health Education/School Sports, Debate/Literacy, Guidance and Counseling Services in basic education schools;
Advising the Commission on requests from agencies and individuals soliciting for financial support for their education related projects.
Representing the Commission in professional meetings of Librarians as well as Guidance and Counselors
Coordinating and facilitating the Commission‟s participation at the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) as well as the National Council on Education (NCE) meetings.
Collaborating with United Nations Children‟s Fund (UNICEF) and other development Agencies in Early Childhood Care and Development Programmes.

Collaborating with the Nigerian Education Research and Development Council (NERDC) in the review and development of the 9-Year Basic Education Curriculum.

Structure of the Department

The Department is headed by a Director and assisted by a Deputy Director.

The Department comprises of three Units which are:

Instructional Materials
Education Support Services
Academic Planning

The Units are coordinated by the Director who ensures compliance with policies and guidelines of UBE implementation. Consequently, for ease of coordination, efficiency, and optimal performance the Units are segregated into sections.

ACHIEVEMENTS

In the course of the year under review, the following were the achievements of the Department:

Assessed all the Action Plans submitted by SUBEBs in the Agricultural Educational Training Programme and Sports Development components.
Monitored the AETP programme across the states Using 2018 FGN/UBE Intervention Fund.
Conducted the Phase 1 monitoring and verification of the availability and utilization of Instructional materials supplied across the 19 Northern States and FCT using 2015/2016 FGN/UBE intervention funds

Supported the President Schools‟ Debate Tournament during the 60^th Independence Anniversary Edition of Inter-SUBEBs Debate competition held in Abuja from 23^rd – 26^th November, 2020.
Submission of report on the National Sport Survey carried out in twelve (12) States of the Federation and FCT from 12^th– 16^th July, 2019.
Catalogued UBE information materials as well as created newspaper index proforma.
32 States and the FCT have accessed the one percent (I%) Sports Fund.
Coordinated and facilitated the Commission‟s participation at the 64^th Meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee on Education (JCCE) held from 20^th – 23^rd October, 2020.
Represented the Commission at the Meetings of Working Group on the National Early Childhood Development and Education (ECCDE).
Represented the Commission at the Planning Committee Meetings of the

Nigeria‟s Annual Education Conference (NAEC).

Collaborated with the Department of Teacher Professional Development in conducting a Master Trainers‟ workshop on Reggio Emilia and other ChildCentred Approaches on ECCDE from 23^rd – 27^th November, 2020 in Nasarawa State.

CONSTRAINTS

The following are the constraints faced by the Department in the discharge of its functions:

Non-committal attitude of some States to ECCDE in spite of the approval of the one-year compulsory ECCDE/Pre-primary Education and entrenchment in the National Policy on Education (NPE).
Late submission of memoranda from other Departments for onward submission to the JCCE secretariat of the Federal Ministry of Education.
Inadequate funds to effectively carry out activities under the ECCDE component.
Inadequate data on school libraries in basic education schools.
Lack of budgetary provision for Guidance and Counseling Services implementation.
Non-availability of implementation guidelines for School Sports development.
Non-adherence to the use of the UBEC Approved minimum guidelines for implementation of the Agricultural Education Training Programme by some states.

ON-GOING ACTIVITIES

The following are on-going activities being carried out by the Department:

Development of Resource Materials for Pre-Primary Education Teachers in the UBE Programme.
Conduct of a Four-Day Workshop with SUBEB Desk Officers in-charge of Early Childhood Education.
Monitoring of AETP programme implementation in the outstanding 11 States for 2018 and 2019 AETP.
Phase II Monitoring of the availability and verification of utilization of Instructional materials supplied across the 17 southern states using 2015/2016 FGN/UBE intervention funds.
Workshop with experts for the departmental staff on Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) Benchmark on Instructional Materials Assessment for both print and e-learning resources.
Compilation and fine-tuning of the reports on the availability of instructional materials and functionality of libraries carried out across the States and FCT in November, 2020.

FUTURE ACTIVITIES

The following future activities have been slated for implementation by the Department:

Monitoring of AETP programme in the 36 states and the FCT.
Verification of the availability and utilization of instructional materials supplied across the 36 states and FCT using 2018/2019 FGN/UBE Intervention Fund.
Procurement of instructional materials using 2020 FGN/UBE Intervention Fund.
Vetting of Library Resources Materials/selection of relevant ones for procurement.
Vetting of AETP Action Plan from SUBEBs.
Attending meetings, workshops and seminars with International Development Partners like RANA, BESDA, NEIplus, etc.
Guidance and Counselling Master Trainers Workshop for UBE Counsellors.
Development of implementation guidelines on Guidance & Counselling for UBE schools.
Workshop/Meeting with experts on the development of a framework for the implementation of the 1% Intervention Fund on School Sports Development.  Development of implementation guideline for School Sports.
Conduct verification exercise on utilization of the 1% Intervention Fund disbursed to states for School Sports development.
Workshop/Meeting with SUBEBs Directors, Desk Officers in-charge of Sports Development as well as Stakeholders of sports at the basic education level to discuss on effective implementation of programmes.
Meeting with library Desk Officers and stakeholders to discuss outcome on availability and functionality of school libraries and to chart a way forward.
Upgrade of the UBEC library to E-library.
Preparation to participate in the forthcoming JCCE and NCE meetings.

CONCLUSION

The Department has been working in collaboration with relevant Departments and Agencies in the delivery of quality basic education through the provision of access, equity and continuous capacity building of personnel across levels to meet current global trends in education.