Gombe state has not been classified among the educationally-advantaged states in the past because of neglect of the sector. However the current administration is waking up to the task as AUWAL AHMAD reports.
Gombe state, according to investigation, has a big challenge in the number of out-of-school children which has been pecked above 500, 000. This is even as the current figure suggests a little higher than previous years. Unarguably, education has been used as a tool for development in most developed nations of the world.
This is why the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO) had in its Education for All (EFA) report released for 2000-2015 proposed that 15 per cent to 20 per cent of countries’ annual budgets be earmarked for education. This proportion of the budget has been a challenge in Nigeria and in several states of the federation.
Facing the challengeOn assumption into office on May 29, Governor Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya had decried the level of infrastructural decay that he inherited from the immediate past administration of Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.
Considering the tremendous challenges facing the education sector, the present administration of Gov Inuwa, therefore wasted no time in declaring a state of emergency in the education sector. The state government also embarked on several activities to address the crisis in the sector by setting up various committees to assess the sector’s situation with a view to advising it on the way forward.
In addition to that, Gov Inuwa approved the released of money for the payment of counterpart funds for Universal Basic Education (UBEC) that facilitated the securing of about N1.5bn basic education grants and ensured compliance with UBEC partnership guidelines while also converting the Almajiri school complex in Kwami to a modern Teachers Training Centre (TTC) and awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the school to serve its new purpose better.In attempt to address the over 500, 000 out-of-school children, the state government also flagged-off the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) which will spend $6,000,000.00 (Six million US dollars) to mop-up out-of school children from the streets and return them into the classrooms, secured assistance through donations of a science laboratory complex which consist of three labs for physics, chemistry and biology with capacity for 30 students.
The government maintained that the move would ensure that every child learns in a conducive environment to enable him or her to excel.
In trying to sustain those moves to meet up with the promise to change the narrative in the sector and other sectors in the state, Gov Inuwa had on December 6, presented a budget proposal of N130.6 billion for the 2020 fiscal year. In the proposal, the education sector had a combined allocation of N22.8billion comprising N12, 310,779,193 allocated to education sub-sector while N10, 548,977,000 was earmarked for investment in the higher education sub-sector for the 2020 fiscal year. This allocation represents about 17 per cent of the budget of the state which falls within the range recommended by UNESCO.
Comparing the above with that of 2019 of N122.5bn, it was discovered that excess of N24.4bn was allocated to the Ministry of Education according to budget. The allocation to the education sector in 2019 represented 19.9 per cent of the budget.
Stakeholders viewsBlueprint spoke to stakeholders on the issue of budgetary allocations for the education sector in the state.
Malam Abdullahi Usman, a public analyst who resides in the state capital said the level of decay in the education sector was the evidence of the fact that the budget had not been the problem with the education sector in the state but implementation.
According to him, “The issue of budgeting has never been the problem but implementation. If the little that was allocated to the sector were to be used effectively, we would not have had the level of decay on the ground as we now have it.’’An educationist, who works in one of the public schools but spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the education sector especially primary education had been neglected for years.
He stated that the challenge with the education sector in the state was that the money budgeted never got monitored in terms of implementation hence, there were approval of funds without release and no one made efforts to track the approved funds to ensure release.
He said, “For any improvement to be recorded in the sector, we would need with sincerity of purpose a percentage budget of between 25 to 30 per cent and must be implemented.”
He stated that the 17 per cent allocated for the sector in the 2020 fiscal year, if properly implemented, could record some gains but stressed that the gains would be insignificant considering the level of infrastructural decay and the need to boost the quality of teaching by enhancing the capacity of teachers especially primary school teachers whom he described as the most demoralised of all civil servants in the state with some on the same level without promotion for years.Bappah Ibrahim, a parent from Malam-Sidi told our Blueprint that there was a dearth of teachers especially in rural areas as most teachers ‘lobby’ to stay in schools in town.
He noted, “I know the number of teachers who have rejected some schools within this local government because they feel discouraged because of the decay and lack of attention for the welfare of teachers in those areas.”He appealed to the state government to use the 2020 budget to restructure the sector and also address the welfare of teachers so that the state can witness what is called improvement in students’ performance in external and internal examinations.
Whether or not the 2020 proposed budget by Governor Inuwa would impact heavily on the education sector, many said it lies on implementation. But for a state like Gombe with a population of over 500, 000 out-of-school children and several infrastructure deficits in schools and 60 per cent of primary school teachers not qualified according to the transition committee report submitted to Gov. Inuwa, it is now left for implementation to judge if the 2020 budget for education can really address the lingering crisis in the sector, both in quality and in infrastructure
