The Lagos State Government has unveiled a reform plan to deploy artificial intelligence, data analytics, and digital systems in school monitoring and registration as part of efforts to strengthen education quality assurance across the state.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun, disclosed this on Wednesday during the unveiling of the strategic plan of the Office of Education Quality Assurance in Lagos.
He said the initiative aimed at improving governance, accountability, and teaching outcomes in schools.
According to him, one of the immediate priorities is the automation of private school registration, which will enable school owners to process applications for provisional approval online without the need to visit government offices physically.
“The overall objective is about improving the performance of schools in the education governance of Lagos State,” Alli-Balogun said.
“First and foremost, we are automating the private school registration system. We do not want school owners to go through the stress of coming down to the ministry before applying for approvals.
They should be able to do that from the comfort of their homes.”
He explained that the reform would also focus on repositioning the OEQA into a more professional and technology-driven institution, with stronger partnerships across agencies and even international academic institutions.
The commissioner added that the state would intensify capacity building for teachers and evaluators to improve efficiency in carrying out their responsibilities.
“We want to improve the capacity building of our teachers so they can perform their duties with renewed focus. We also want stronger synergy between agencies within government and OEQA in the discharge of their responsibilities,” he said.
Alli-Balogun stressed that the success of the strategic document would depend largely on the commitment of education evaluators and staff to embrace the reforms.
“These documents cannot be effective without the cooperation of evaluators. Once they buy into the change process, it will succeed. The document is full of innovation and creativity, and implementation has already started,” he said.
He clarified that although implementation had commenced immediately, the reforms would be gradual, given the infrastructure and training requirements involved.
“You cannot expect everything to fall into place in one day. Automation requires new ICT infrastructure, personnel, and training for evaluators to key into the new system,” he added.
Speaking at the event, the Director-General of OEQA, Dr Sulaimon Ogunmuyiwa, said the strategic plan was developed after an internal SWOT analysis identified major weaknesses in the agency’s operations, including poor motivation among staff, an inadequate number of evaluators, weak inter-agency relationships, and excessive reliance on manual processes.
“We realised that a lot of things are done manually. That was one of the biggest weaknesses we identified. So, we decided to come up with a strategic document that is going to transform the way we work in OEQA,” Ogunmuyiwa said.
He noted that the strategic planning session, held in January, produced a framework that would fundamentally change education quality assurance in Lagos.
Lagos currently has over 1,400 public schools, about two million learners, and 162,000 teachers under the oversight of the agency.
According to Ogunmuyiwa, the strategic plan prioritises professionalisation of quality assurance practice, digital transformation of regulatory processes, improved inter-agency collaboration, stronger human capacity, sustainable revenue generation, and enhanced public trust.
The OEQA boss said the reforms would also digitise school registration, approval, renewal, and accreditation processes, while strengthening cybersecurity and data protection compliance.
“This document is going to improve the way we manage over two million learners. It will improve how evaluators visit schools and monitor what teachers are doing in classrooms,” he said.
“It is going to be more digital, and this gives students confidence that whatever happens in their schools, somebody is watching over the system.”
The six strategic goals, grouped under the acronym SCRIPT, include staff capacity and institutional resilience, collaboration and public trust, resource mobilisation, policy governance, modernised education quality assurance, and deployment of data-driven digital systems.
The second-quarter implementation plan includes automation of billing, invoicing and verification systems; continuous training of staff in ICT, artificial intelligence, data analytics and investigation; competency-based tests for staff deployment; and stricter enforcement of school registration and renewal processes.
Ogunmuyiwa revealed that implementation had already begun, including staff training and engagement with security agencies such as the police to train investigators in mediation and report writing.
“We have already started the automation process. We have engaged 13 people to drive it, and implementation is ongoing. This launch is only marking my first 100 days in office,” he said.
He added that the strategic framework was deliberately designed to outlast changes in leadership by making reforms systemic and fully documented.
“Every change we are making is being documented. Somebody cannot come tomorrow and simply reverse them. It is systemic and will continue,” he said.
Ogunmuyiwa also warned education auditors against compromising standards, manipulating data, applying rules unfairly, engaging in unprofessional conduct, resisting innovation, and excluding key stakeholders from critical decisions.
He urged staff to think differently, act decisively, and work collaboratively to restore confidence in education quality assurance in Lagos.
The state government said the reforms are expected to improve school monitoring, strengthen accountability, reduce bureaucratic bottlenecks, and ultimately enhance learning outcomes across Lagos schools.
