Governor Uba Sani, please save primary education

Primary education is the first stage of formal education, it lays the foundation for future learning and plays a critical role in shaping a child’s cognitive, emotional and social development. A strong foundation in primary education sets the stage for future academic achievements. A well-educated population contributes to a country’s economic growth and competitiveness.

It is however sad to note that primary education in Kaduna state is facing serious challenges ranging from shortage of manpower, lack of motivation to infrastructural deficit. What crippled the development of primary education in the state is the consequences of the immediate-past Governor Nasir el-Rufai’s irrational decision to axe over 25,000 primary school teachers in 2017. The el-Rufai administration, in a bid to reform education sector and flush what it described as unqualified teachers, conducted examination leading to disqualification of thousands of teachers. el-Rufai had ignored the advice of education expert to train and retrain the teachers. 

The sacking of thousands of teachers had created a huge man power gap and negatively affected primary school education in the state. Unfortunately, subsequent recruitment by the state government failed to address the personnel shortage. Many schools that had enough teaching staff prior to El-rufai’s destructive policy were forced to cope with the dearth of teachers. 

For instance, there were hundreds of schools with high enrollment that can hardly parade five teaching staff. Even some of the recruited teachers had to abandon their duty post, citing poor condition of service by the last administration. With the new sheriff in town, one had expected Governor Uba Sani to have reviewed some of the El-rufai’s policy that hampered the development of primary education and formulate new ones.

No doubt, primary schools in Kaduna state are gasping for breath and need urgent oxygen to survive. The schools are battling with shortage of teaching staff. A visit to rural schools will reveal the dire condition of primary education which demands an urgent action. While some education funded NGOs like BESDA and AGILE have come to the aid of our collapsing primary education through building of modern classes to bridge infrastructural facilities and give primary education a facelift, it is high time the state government did its own bid. 

During 2025 budget presentation, Governor Uba Sani stated that his government has allocated 26.14% of the budget to the education sector. This is cheering news. We passionately appeal to the governor to fix the multi-dimensional problems bedeviling primary education in the state.This can be achieved through scale up recruitment. There is the need for the state government to recruit more teachers as many schools are without the required number teachers.

Government should also pay serious attention to the training of teachers. This will help them to acquire new teaching method and innovation. It will also go a long way towards assisting them to excel in their profession. Moreover, primary school teachers hardly receive their salary on time. With the excruciating cost of living in the country, starving teachers will not pay full attention to their teaching jobs let alone impart knowledge to the pupils. Besides timely payment of their salary, the state government should consider approving rural allowance for teachers posted to rural areas. This will spur them to give their best.

The development of other stages of education depends largely on primary education. It is the foundation upon which other stages are built. By addressing the challenges and leveraging innovation, Governor Uba Sani can improve the quality and accessibility of primary education which will ultimately empower future generations to succeed in the state.