The troubling statistics of out-of-school children, teachers’ deficit as well as insecurity around the primary schools in Kaduna State topped the discussion recently as education stakeholders met at a roundtable to mark the 2024 International Day of Education. ABDULGAFAR ALABELEWE reports.
In Kaduna State, despite the efforts by the successive administration to eradicate the menace of out-of school children, the number keeps growing. For those in school, their number outweighs the standard teacher/pupil ratio. Recent research put the ratio at 80 pupils to one teacher.
At the one-day media parley and stakeholders’ roundtable organised by Partnership for Learning for all in Nigeria (PLANE) programme and Kaduna Basic Education and Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM), to commemorate International Day of Education, tagged: “Promoting Safe and Violence-Free School,” participants brainstormed on the challenges and way out.
The stakeholders at the event, including the media, religious leaders, traditional institution, civil society organisations and officials of the State Ministry of Education and State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) took their turn to discuss measures in place to ensure safe school environment and how to improve the measures put in place by the state government.
Stakeholders seek urgent action
The stakeholders established link between unsafe schools, especially in the rural areas, and the growing number out-of-school children and suggested that aside the government’s efforts towards protecting the schools with parameter fencing and introduction of Edu Marshals, the communities must take ownership of the public schools around them as that will further guarantee safety of the schools and pupils.
During the panel session, the stakeholders who expressed concern about the growing number of pupils, who are out of school, called for urgent actions by the Governor Uba Sani-led government to address the menace.
For Mr. Sola Ojo, a media practitioner, allowing the number of out-of-school children to continue growing without check has great negative implications on the security of the state, the North-West region and the entire country.
He of the 13 million established statistics of out-of-school children in Nigeria, Kaduna State accounts for about 680,000. “That is dangerous for the state to ignore, because that has great negative consequences on our security in the nearest future, because the bandits troubling us will have easy recruits either as informants or gunrunners among the uneducated population.”
Help on the way
There is, however, hope for Kaduna State in the moves to return the 680,000 out of school pupils to the classroom. Governor Sani, who had lamented at different fora since he took over government in May 2023, about the disturbing number of school age children on the streets, said help was on the way.
When he hosted the Kaduna State Elders Forum when they visited him last week, Sani said: “Education is the greatest enabler. So, we must educate the children of the poor to compete favorably with the children of the rich. If we don’t do that, the problem of insecurity cannot be addressed. But, I am happy that a lot of people are already looking at that.
“In Kaduna State, we have over 600,000 out-of-school children. But, because they realised how proactive we have been, Kuwait Fund is supporting us with $28 million to lift out of school children back to school.”
Reeling out statistics on the state of the Kaduna primary and lower secondary schools, the State Universal Basic Education Board (KADSUBEB) Chairman, Tijjani Abdullahi, said a recent Teacher Gap Analysis conducted in Kaduna State revealed that there is deficiency of about 13,000 teachers in the state primary schools.
The KADSUBEB boss said: “Kaduna State has about 4,260 primary schools also known as lower-basic and middle-basic schools and about 177 junior secondary or upper-basic schools.”
He added that the Teacher Gap Analysis puts the teachers/pupils ratio at 80 pupils to 1 teacher. He was, however, quick to say that the state government has since approved recruitment of teachers in batches to reduce gap to at least 60 pupils to one teacher.
According to him, “we have about 30,000 teachers for lower and middle basics, and about 4,000 teachers for the upper basics.
“The teacher gap analysis conducted by the state suggested that the schools in the state would need about 13,000 teachers, which the state government has since approved the recruitment in batches to reduce the student to teacher ratio in the state from 80-1 to 60-1.”
The KADSUBEB Chairman also highlighted some of the achievements the state has made in safeguarding schools to include domestication of the national policy on safety, security and violence-free schools along with its implementation guidelines.
He also mentioned that the establishment of safeguarding teams in the 23 councils and peace clubs across the basic schools in the state.
Abdullahi, however, argued that free, quality and safe education delivery is a collective responsibility. Therefore, he said safe school and violence-free environment is fundamental as factor that determines development and maintenance of learners’ academic focus to their schoolwork.
He restated the state government’s commitment to ensuring the welfare, and enabling environment for teachers and learners to thrive.
In her own remarks, the Safeguarding Advisor of PLANE in Kaduna, Hadiza Nasiru, said that a school should ideally be a sanctuary, a space where young minds could flourish without fear of harm or intimidation.
She lamented that the reality falls short of the ideal with incidents of violence and insecurity casting a shadow over the educational landscape.
Rounding up the roundtable meeting, the State’s Ministry of Education, PLANE and other stakeholders, made commitment to ensure schools safety and quality education in the state.
