The Heirs Insurance Group has announced the opening of applications for the fourth edition of its annual Heirs Insurance Essay Championship, targeted at junior secondary school students nationwide. In a statement on Wednesday, it was indicated that N10.5m worth of prizes will be up for grabs in this year’s edition features N10.5m worth of prizes.

The winning student will receive an N5 m scholarship along with an N1m education grant for their school. The first and second runners-up will receive N2m and N1m scholarships, respectively. In addition, insurance-focused themes and quizzes have been embedded into the application process for students, ensuring early engagement with the concept of insurance.

To participate, students must submit original essays of not more than 500 words on the topic ‘The Role of Insurance in Keeping Families Safe and Secure’ via its website. Submissions are open from May 27 to July 8, 2025.

As part of the advancement of the educational system in Anambra, Governor Charles Soludo at the ninth session of the Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) in Awka, approved a contract for the upgrading of the learning facilities in secondary schools in the state.

Soludo at the Council meeting approved the procurement of smart boards in place of the approved interactive boards and for the procurement of tablets for teachers in the 22 smart schools across the state, according to a statement.

The Commissioner for Information, Law Mefor stated that the governor has awarded the contract for the reconstruction of Boy’s Secondary School, Uga, as a reference model secondary school for the state. In furtherance of his move to transform the education sector, Soludo also signed the provision of free internet access to Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Uli Campus, in the state, the statement further said.

A total of 4,169 teachers across the country failed the 2025 Batch ‘A’ Professional Qualifying Examination (PQE) conducted by the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN). The examination was conducted between May 15 and 17.

TRCN’s Director of Certification and Licensing, Dr. Jacinta Ezeahurukwe, said this in a statement yesterday while announcing the release of the results of the nationwide examination.Ezeahurukwe said 13,782 candidates registered for the examination but only 12,874, representing 93.4 per cent, participated, while 908 candidates, or 6.6 per cent, were absent.

Of those who took the test, 8,705 candidates, or 67.62 per cent, passed, while 4,169, representing 32.38 per cent, failed the examination. According to the performance, Lagos State led with an impressive pass rate of 80 per cent, followed by Edo State with 73.3 per cent; Niger State with 69.2 per cent, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) with 68.3 per cent.

No fewer than twelve federal universities will benefit from high-fibre digital infrastructure before the end of the year, Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy Dr. Bosun Tijani announced on Wednesday. In addition, some Nigerian universities are set to begin enjoying 24-hour electricity supply to enhance teaching, research, and learning on campuses, according to the Minister of Education, Dr. Maruf Alausa.

Dr. Tijani disclosed this at the commissioning of a High-Fibre Digital Facility at the University of Abuja’s old Boys Hostel. He said the initiative aims to equip students with digital skills and access needed to explore emerging opportunities in the global tech ecosystem before graduation.

Citing examples of young Nigerians who have successfully built billion-dollar online payment firms, Dr. Tijani urged students to leverage the digital infrastructure being provided by the current administration to develop themselves and build a future in tech.

The Federal Government through the office of the Vice President Kashim Shettima, has lauded the launch of the INSPIRE Project as a transformative milestone for Nigeria’s educational and technological development, describing it as a critical step toward empowering the next generation of innovators, scientists, and engineers.

Represented by the Special Adviser to the President on General Duties, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar, the Vice President delivered an impassioned keynote speech at the official unveiling of the project at the NAF Conference Centre in Abuja.

The initiative, led by PanAfricare and the TechWomen Alumni Association Nigeria with funding from ExxonMobil Foundation, aims to revolutionize science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria’s underserved public secondary schools.

The One Million Teachers (1MT) organisation has launched the Teacher Impact Challenge, a competition aimed at rewarding exceptional teachers across Nigeria who have made significant impacts on their students.

In a statement by the organisers, a total of N1.75 million would be awarded to the winners, adding that the teacher with the best impact story and highest engagement will win N1 million, while the first and second runners-up will receive N500,000 and N250,000 respectively.

“To participate, teachers are required to register for the “Let There Be Teachers” conference on the official website and share a short video detailing their impact stories on social media platforms, such as Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, or X.

About 750 secondary students have been equipped with critical 21st-century skills in artificial intelligence, machine learning, design thinking, problem-solving, and creativity. The training, which was organized by Project iCommunity in collaboration with the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) and Chevron Nigeria Limited (CNL), was established in 2023.

The students across 15 schools in Lagos, Delta and Ondo States, participated in a rigorous five-week programme, with 50 students per school engaging in hands-on training and real-world problem-solving challenges. For the schools in Lagos, Badore Community High School, won first position, earning a N1 million cash prize and Attend AI – a smart classroom attendance system using facial recognition.

Similarly, Ilasan Senior Secondary School won the Smart Pajec classroom attendance system using AI while Gbara Community Senior Secondary School went home with Edubot: Virtual assistant using AI for students’ assignments secured second and third places respectively.

The federal government has inaugurated the Alternate Education and Renewed Hope National Home Grown School Feeding Project to expand the scope of feeding by reaching 20 million out-of-school and informal children in 2026. The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda, spoke about the plan during the launching of the programme on Tuesday in Abuja.

Yilwatda said the programme was implemented by the Renewed Hope National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (RH-NHGSFP), in collaboration with the National Commission for Almajiri and Out of School Children Education and the National Identity Management Commission.

The minister said the project was one of the flagship initiatives of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) in commemoration of President Bola Tinubu’s second-year anniversary, noting that the objective was to build a national framework for reintegrating out-of-school children into safe, structured, and nourishing learning environments.

It is abundantly clear that vocational education plays a paramount role in transforming the lives of millions of students all over the world across a broad range of fields of study. Just to mention a few: School of International Education, School of continuing Education, School of Basic Education, School of Information Engineering, School of Urban Safety Engineering, School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, and other related fields.

As things stand at present, by working at all hours of the day and night, students have been accomplishing the fruits of accomplishment more than ever before. As China's position in Ethiopia's vocational training is very unique and special, it has been playing a paramount role in improving the education system of various TVET by offering various trainings.

This being the case, most colleges have been moving in the right direction by turning the dreams of most parents, students into reality. Ethiopia and China have been strengthening their strategic partnership through expanded cultural, educational and vocational collaborations, officials said during the 2025 Language Day Celebration which was in the recent past held in Addis Ababa.

The Kenyan government launched a big attempt in 2015 to promote gender equality in and through the education sector. This was guided by principles of equal participation and inclusion of women and men, and girls and boys in national development.

The Education and Training Sector Gender Policy aligned with national, regional and global commitments. This included the constitution, and Sustainable Development Goals 4 on quality education and 5 on gender equality. Years later, however, it became clear that the government wasn’t achieving some policy’s objectives.

Gaps remained in reducing gender inequalities in access, participation and achievement at all levels of education. The government decided to review the causes of these challenges and what could be done differently. This led to a two-year joint study in partnership with the African Population and Health Research Center.

Worried over the continued inability of states to access funding from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), intended to improve public schools, the Executive Secretary of UBEC, Aisha Garba, has expressed worry over states failing to provide matching funds, causing billions of naira to remain unclaimed and contributing to infrastructure shortages in schools despite the federal government’s plan to facilitate the release of a five-year backlog in unused basic education grants.

As of December 2024, 34 states and the FCT had yet to access N263 billion in UBE matching grants for 2024. Speaking yesterday at the 26th Quarterly Review Meeting with State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEB) in Makurdi, Benue State, Garba emphasised the urgency of addressing unutilised and unaccessed UBEC intervention funds.

“Are we doing enough?” she asked, not as a rhetorical question, but as a direct call to action. She stated firmly that the Nigerian child cannot continue to pay the price for institutional delays and inefficiencies.
“This meeting is not just another routine engagement,” she said. “We are confronting the real barriers to access and equity in basic education.”

As part of efforts to eliminate financial barriers to higher education and foster human capital development, the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) has disbursed N56.85 billion in student loans to 298,124 beneficiaries across 198 tertiary institutions within its first year of operation.

The fund, launched on May 24, 2024, under President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, said the disbursement covered institutional tuition fees and upkeep allowances for eligible students. According to figures released by the agency, N30.18 billion was paid directly to institutions to settle tuition obligations, while N26.63 billion was provided as living stipends to students.

Director of Strategic Communications at NELFUND, Oseyemi Oluwatuyi, disclosed that 602,417 students had registered on the loan portal so far. Of this figure, 554,719 applications, representing a 92 per cent processing success rate, were successfully reviewed and approved.