Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf has declared emergency in education sector following reports that a staggering 4.7million pupils were sitting on floors in primary schools and decadence in the sector. Can Yusuf correct these grim problems? Senior Correspondent FANEN IHYONGO reports
Declaring a state of emergency on the education sector was a bold step, perhaps the only way for the Kano Governor Abba Yusuf to clean up the rots he said he met upon his assumption of office on May 29, last year.
The first thing that motivated Yusuf to take the action was when he learnt that a staggering 4.7 million pupils were sitting on bare floors in primary schools across the state. But, the worst is the alarming proliferation of 989,234 out-of-school children of both genders, a situation that threatens to rob an entire generation of their right to education and a brighter future.
“The statistics are grim and the faces of these out-of-school children, devoid of the promise of learning, haunt us as a collective failure,” the governor stated at the declaration ceremony at the Open Arena of Government House, Kano on Saturday.
Yusuf did not just wake up that day to declare a state of emergency on education. He studied the situation and understood the problems.
Dilapidated school structures, inadequate qualified teachers
The governor said the Kano educational landscape, once a beacon of hope and opportunity for the youth and an example for other states to copy, now stands shrouded in the shadows of unacceptable neglect and decay.
“The problems are multi-faceted: we face a severe shortage of qualified teachers, inadequate teacher training programmes and lack of basic amenities such as clean water and sanitation in many of our schools.
“These issues, coupled with the socio-economic challenges that many of our students face, create an environment where education is not just difficult, but nearly impossible,” he lamented.
“Our schools, which should be sanctuaries of knowledge, discipline and growth, are in a deplorable state. Dilapidated infrastructure is a common sight; roofs caving in, walls crumbling and classrooms that can no longer provide a safe and conducive learning environment.
“Let us delve deeper, and you will discover disheartening statistics: out of the 42,516 total classrooms available in our basic schools, a mere 22% meet the most basic standards of habitability. The lack of instructional materials further compounds the problem, leaving our teachers and students to struggle with outdated and insufficient resources.
“Above all, 4.7 million pupils are sitting on bare floors to take lessons while about 400 schools have only one teacher for all class subjects and all pupils. Rather than building more classrooms and providing basic furniture in the schools, as well as hiring more teachers, the administration we took over from chose to butcher the land belonging to those schools, in some places demolishing classrooms to create space for shops. Those schools that they could not sell, they closed them down and got them vandalised.”
Yusuf said he would tame the decay by building additional 300 state-of-the-art laboratories in 100 schools across the state, among many other initiatives. The provision of facilities, he said, will provide the students with hands-on experience in scientific inquiry, fostering a culture of experimentation and discovery that is essential for their future success.
To create a more conducive atmosphere for learning, he announced the construction of 1,000 classrooms across the state within the next academic session.
“This measure will, no doubt, mitigate classroom congestion that has become a common feature of most of our schools. We have also directed that all contractors handling inherited abandoned projects in our tertiary institutions should go back to site immediately,” he said.
As part of the emergency action, the governor approved the hiring of additional 10,000 teachers, adding that teachers will enjoy periodic training and retraining so as to achieve the vision of making “every teacher a caring educator”.
“At least, 1,000 academic and non-academic staff will be employed into tertiary institutions. This declaration is not just symbolic; it signifies a commitment to overhaul our education system from the ground up. We will invest in infrastructure, ensuring that every school has adequate classrooms conducive to teaching and learning. We will also prioritise teacher training and welfare, recognising their pivotal role in shaping the minds of tomorrow.”
Increase budgetary allocation to education
Yusuf said he will substantially increase budgetary allocation to educational system. In this regard, he disclosed that his administration has allocated 29.95 per cent of the state’s 2024 budget to education.
He said: “This decision is based on the realisation that only significant allocation of financial resources would address most of the hydra-headed problems afflicting our educational system, largely centered around under-funding.
“In our bid to revitalise the basic and post-basic education sub-sectors, I am delighted to announce the restoration of upkeep and overhead funds for all secondary schools. This injection of funds will enable the schools to maintain their infrastructure, procure essential teaching and learning materials and ensure the overall conducive teaching and learning environment that our students deserve.
“Let me make it categorically clear to the managements of our schools that our administration would not condone any act of mismanagement of funds allocated to schools.”
Yusuf said when he came onboard, students who sat for NBAIS Examination from 2021-2023 could not access their results because of the failure of the previous administration to pay relevant agencies what was due to them, and that he met a backlog of examination fee to the tune of over N1.3 billion, which he paid and got Kano State students registered for NECO and NBAIS.
This year, his administration has approved for the payment of NECO and NBAIS registration fees to the tune of over N2.9 billion for 121,597 pupils that have four credits in their qualifying examination in public schools.
Governor seeks cooperation of parents, communities, other stakeholders
The governor reminded that the responsibility of improving the educational sector does not rest solely on the shoulders of government. “It is a collective endeavour that requires the cooperation of parents, communities and stakeholders in the educational sector,” he said.
He reechoed late Nelson Mandela’s famous education quote, “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, urging philanthropists and all stakeholders to unleash the educational weapon with wisdom and foresight for the betterment of Kano state and the generations yet to come.
“Together, we can revitalise our schools and pave the way for a prosperous future for our dear state,” he said.
“He commended the president’s wife, Senator Remi Tinubu, who donated 110,000 exercise books to Kano for distribution to public schools, Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Ali -the Force Commander, who renovated GGSS Kundila; Alhaji Mudassir, who renovated the Yalwa Primary and Secondary Schools and Maj. Gen. AG Auwalu, who renovated Fagge Special Primary School.
Highlights of the occasion were presentation of permanent job offers to 5,632 BESDA teachers, distribution of soft loans to SUBEB teachers as well as distribution of instructional materials to schools.
Also, academic graduation certificates were presented to students who benefitted from the Kwankwaso-led administration’s scholarship scheme but were neglected and allegedly put in limbo by the previous administration.
Yusuf expressed gratitude to former governors of Kano and Cross River states, Rabiu Kwankwaso and Donald Duke, representatives of UNICEF and other international and domestic organisations, contractors, and other eminent personalities for their support and presence at the event.
Reactions
Duke hailed Kano State Government, saying the occasion symbolises re-birth of education not only in Kano, but in the northern part of the country.
Kwankwaso expressed joy over the development and called on all and sundry to support Governor Yusuf in taking Kano to greater heights.
He admonished newly employed teachers to accept their posting to rural areas with good minds to achieve the desired goals and objectives of the emergency declaration.
In his reaction to the governor’s declaration, Alhaji Murtala of the $MON, an NGO, said: “I hope it is not one of the eye service works that we used to witness here.”
Sani Kogo, an activist, said “All these buildings fetch political profits but do little to uplift the educational standards of the state. The main focus of the government should be teachers. There must be competent and sufficiently remunerated teachers to man the public schools. Most of those BESDA teachers cannot,” he told Abba Yusuf on his twitter handle.
Yusuf Oshigwe said the governor was only making a political statement when everyone knows he was not serious about education.
“Do you know the value of education?” he asked.
