The Lagos State Government has assured that it will continue to improve education standards to make the system a reference point.

The state Commissioner for Education, Mrs. Folashade Adefisayo, gave the assurance at the maiden Distinguished Personality Lecture Series (DPLS) organized by the Public Service Staff Development (PSSDC), on Thursday in Lagos.

The lecture had the theme: “Leadership and Management of Educational Institutions: The Issues, Challenges, and Solutions”.

DPLS is an initiative to celebrate the contributions of personalities who have provided solutions to community challenges in their professional callings.

Adefisayo said that the state had achieved much in academics and infrastructure development due to effective leadership.

He said that leadership was about collaboration and teamwork.

She said: “Everyone aspiring for a position of leadership should have a vision and be focused in order to be successful.”

“Speaking on the theme of the lecture, Prof Olanrewaju Fagbohun,  a former Vice-Chancellor, Lagos State University (LASU), called on educational institutions to step out of positioning themselves to be part of solutions to constraints to the nation’s progress.

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According to Fagbohun, institutions must leave their comfort zones and build their capacities to become valued partners in a knowledge-based global economy.

“The education sector, as an entity, should seek the inputs of all stakeholders in charting a way forward for itself.

“It must also seek to leverage on its own talents, scale up its activities and create values for all relevant stakeholders.

“Educational institutions should begin to take national problems as their own problems,” he said.

He added that by so doing, the sector’s problems would be tackled as national problems.

Fagbohun said that such actions would ultimately produce a symbiotic partnership that would create value and solutions for all parties.

On how to tackle vices in higher institutions of learning, Fagbohun advised  that students should be constantly engaged with learning.

The former LASU vice-chancellor noted that frequent workers’ strikes constituted distractions and could derail students.

Fagbohun urged the management of institutions to take discipline seriously and hold people accountable.

He said that frequent attacks by militants on institutions of higher learning was a challenge, and called for an end to the attacks.