By Usman Usman Garba
The Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), in collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), Abuja, has trained school heads and education monitoring officers from all 44 Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) in Kano State to strengthen accountability, improve school management and raise teaching and learning standards in public basic schools.
The three-day capacity-building programme, funded through the UBEC/SUBEB 2025 Action Plan Matching Grant, focused on effective School Self-Evaluation (SSE) and the use of evaluation findings to identify gaps, address challenges and improve educational outcomes.
The Executive Chairman of Kano SUBEB, Malam Yusuf Kabir, was represented at the programme by the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Malam Muazu Magaji.
Kabir said the training was designed to equip participants with the knowledge and practical skills required to implement quality assurance procedures, conduct effective school self-evaluations and make evidence-based decisions to improve teaching and learning.
He described School Self-Evaluation as an essential tool for raising educational standards, explaining that it enables school leaders to identify institutional strengths and weaknesses, assess the effectiveness of school management and develop appropriate responses to challenges affecting teaching, learning, pupils’ attendance and academic performance.
According to him, the training covered quality assurance procedures, effective school leadership and management, planning and conducting school self-evaluations, identifying areas requiring improvement and using evaluation findings to guide school development.
The SUBEB chairman also emphasised the importance of evidence-based decision-making in assessing school performance, identifying gaps in the availability and utilisation of learning resources, monitoring pupils’ participation and developing targeted interventions to improve educational outcomes.
To ensure that participants translate the knowledge and skills acquired into practical improvements, Kabir said the Board, through its Department of Monitoring and Evaluation, would strengthen follow-up activities using established quality assurance mechanisms.
These include school resumption monitoring, daily school monitoring, quality assurance evaluation, follow-up evaluation, end-of-term evaluation and special inspections where necessary.
He explained that the monitoring activities would enable the Board to assess how effectively participants apply the training outcomes, track progress in school management and teaching practices, and identify areas requiring further guidance and support.
In his remarks, the Director of Monitoring and Evaluation, Malam Muazu Magaji, said the Board expected the programme to strengthen school leadership, enhance accountability, improve self-evaluation practices and help school leaders identify and address priority areas requiring improvement.
Magaji noted that, given the large number of schools, education authorities and learners across Kano State, there was a need to extend the benefits of the training to more schools through additional capacity-building initiatives.
He explained that further training would depend on the availability of resources and support from the UBEC/SUBEB Matching Grant and the Kano State Government.
The initiative forms part of Kano SUBEB’s ongoing efforts, in collaboration with UBEC, to strengthen quality assurance, promote effective school management and drive continuous improvement in the delivery of basic education across the state.