Kano enrol over 500,000 Out of school children – Commissioner
By Prince Okafor
Kano State Commissioner of Education, Muh’d Sanusi Kiru said it has enrolled over 500,000 out of school children in the state back to the classroom.
Kiru disclosed this while speaking with newsmen as part of activities outlined to commemorate the maiden International Day of Education with the theme “Learning for People, Planet, Prosperity and Peace” organized by United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF in the state.
The Commissioner said the state have continued to witness drastic increase and skyrocketing in enrollment following numerous intensive interventions put in place by the current administration of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje.
Kiru said the government has also constructed and renovated schools to the sum of over N400 million to address issues of congestion of classrooms arising from the increased enrollment.
He said plans are underway to also employ about 7,000 teachers, disburse 4,000 furnitures in addition to instructional materials worth N150 million it disbursed to aid learning and also provide conducive atmosphere of learning to the pupils.
According to him, “We have declared free and compulsory education from primary, junior and senior secondary schools. I think it a commendable effort by Governor Ganduje. Since I assume duty as Commissioner, I have been working round the clock to ensure implementation of the free and compulsory education.
“The Governor has introduced feeding of students, free uniforms, free instructional materials, we have been training our teachers, constructing new schools and renovating. We are now spending over N400 million in renovating various schools in the state.
“Similarly, very soon the ministry is going to disburse more than 4,000 classroom furnitures across our schools. And as I am talking to you, we have in stock over 1 million text books that we are going to share to our primary and secondary schools. We are also employing almost 7,000 teachers for both primary and secondary schools very soon. So, the government is spending hugely on education.
“The 2018 report of World Bank says Kano has over 900,000 out of school children. But our own statistics as I am talking to you is revealing over 400,000. And their own statistics was 2018 and before the introduction of this free and compulsory education in the state.
“So with the introduction now, we are saying you as a father or mother should not pay a kobo for their children, we are going to give them feeding, uniform and instructional materials, all free of charge. The only thing you need to do as a parent is to ensure that your children go to school. So, that is why the enrollment is increasing and skyrocketing now. In a matter of one or two years, we are not going to talk about private schools any more because govt is providing everything free of charge.
“From 2018 till date over 500,000 out of school children are now enrolled. So the state government is making serious progress. By next one year, donors peeping to see out of school children, won’t find any in Kano,” Kiru stated.
The Commissioner however solicited for the continuous support of donor agencies to come to it aid to provide access and quality education to children in the state.
“We are appealing to the donor agencies to come to our rescue, help Kano. Government alone cannot shoulder the responsibility of education because of our size. In Kano, we are more than 20 million. We have more than 6,800 primary schools, so for government to manage this public schools in terms of their daily feeding, teacher-student ratio or relationship, furnitures, providing text books for the students and teachers. We have more than 50 boarding schools. We give them three square meals in a day,” Kiru however stated.
