It seems that a new dawn beckons in the educational sector of Jigawa state as BAYO MUHAMMAD ALABIRA reports.
In view of the prevailing challenges hampering the education sector in many states across the nation presently, Jigawa state government has taken a long stride to reposition the sector by putting the square pegs into the available square holes.
It could be recalled that the 12-point agenda of the present administration is geared towards repositioning the state as a centre of excellence.
The state governor, Malam Umar Namadi has therefore appointed people of high profile who are technocrats in the field, professional and academicians in the education sector to do the job.
This was demonstrated in the steps taken by the governor right from the inception of his administration to address the already-deteriorated situation in the state.
The governor put in place the mechanism to rehabilitate the infrastructural decay and fill the existing manpower gaps that almost crippled the education sector over the years.
The gap
Recently, the state chairman of Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) Comrade Abdulkadiri Yunusa announced that the number of teachers needed at the moment to fill the vacant positions of teaching in schools across the 27 local government areas is over 32,000 workforce.
This means a swipe move is needed to recruit active professional teachers with qualified teaching experiences to fill the gaps that are necessary even if the general employment would not be conducted in the state at the moment.
Also, stakeholders of the education sector in the state equally suggested that anything short of mass recruitment of teachers would certainly have negative impact on the performances and enrolment of pupils in the state.
recruitment
As a drastic measure, Governor Namadi recently approved a permanent offer of appointment to 3,000 teachers to bridge the gaps existing currently in the teaching profession across the state. According to him, this will be done step by step and with time, all the gaps needed to be closed up urgently with teachers in the state education sector would be successfully achieved.
Namadi has also approved the casual appointment of about 1,000 teachers under the J-Teach programme, where they would be absolved into permanent and pensionable job after one year, depending on their performances.
To that extent, the United Kingdom Commission, known as Foreign Commonwealth Development Office ( FCDO) has commended the state government for the formula it adopted for the recruitment of 6,000 teachers in the state.
Addressing out-of-school syndrome
The FCDO’s senior education adviser Lan Attfield has recently commended the state government for its magnanimous strive towards addressing the issue of ‘out-of-school-children’ found to be everywhere in the north. In line with that, the commission pledged a giant support from the UK government. This announcement was made recently during an Education Reform Dialogue held in Dutse. The meeting was organised for stakeholders to address the challenges of out-of-school children and the dearth of teachers in the state.
The commission said the steps taken by the state government to address key strategic issues in education sector, especially the critical shortage of teachers is a welcome development.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) report, it stated that Jigawa is the fifth state with the largest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria after Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina and Kano states.
The report has it that there are about 784,391 children that are not in school in the state. But the state government said most of the out-of-school children are Almajiris who are not enrolled in any school of formal educations.
Steps taken so far
To tackle this problem head long, Governor Namadi from the inception of his administration has segmented the state Ministry of Education into two ministries. A technocrat and academician from Bayero University Kano, Professor Isah Yusuf Chamo has been appointed as a commissioner to handle the state Ministry for Higher Education while Honourable Lawal Inusa Dan Zomo remains the commissioner for the Ministry of Lower Education.
Addressing infrastructural decay
The state commissioner for information, youths, sports and culture, Sagir Musa said that recently, the State Executive Council has approved the awards of contracts to renovate the schools structures damaged or blown off by rain storm across the 27 local governments of the state.
He said, “The first phase of the renovation will cover 11 schools in the state and will gulf over N427 million, among others.
“The second phase of this renovation will cover 14 schools in the state with a total contract sum of N360,668,311.78 only. The renovation will cover blocks of classrooms, hostels, laboratories, wall fences, toilets and admin blocks,” Musa stressed.
Musa announced that state government has approved a memo presented by the Ministry for Higher Education seeking the mandate of the executive order to address some vital issues.
“The memo meant for the payment of tuition fees in respect of 184 Jigawa state students transferred from Sudan Universities to Near East University, Cyprus for the 2023/2024 academic session worth €1,523,657 Euro equivalent of N1,700,000.000.00 billion only.
“Eight students were sponsored through Musabaqa programme. Similarly, the upkeep and accommodation, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) says that Jigawa is the fifth largest number of out-of-school children in Nigeria after Bauchi, Kebbi, Katsina and Kano states.”
The report has it that there are about 784,391 children that are not in school in the state.
“Many of the out-of-school children in Jigawa are Almajiris. The Almajiris are not enrolled in any school of formal education. the 16 students sponsored by the INDIMI Foundation will be paid by the state government,” he said.
The commissioner further explained that the payment would cover 160 Jigawa state indigene students, 100 females and 60 males sponsored fully by the tate government.
To further improve the schools enrolment, the state government has approved N2.8 billion for the construction of Almajiri schools in the five emirates and recruitment of 3,000 teachers in that regard.
This programme is part of the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA).
“The total sum of N2,851,797,098 has been set aside for activities such as the payment of a five-month outstanding allowance for facilitators of Almajiri/Girl Child Centres.
“The fund will be used to pay proprietors, procure instructional materials and for conducting capacity-building workshops for the teachers,” Musa added.
The commissioner for basic education, Lawan Danzomo, said during the state holders meeting that the state has set aside more than N2.6 billion to recruit and train 6,000 new teachers.
Enrolment
According to the state government official, the Almajiri schools would enrol at least 12,000 pupils when the construction is completed in a very short time.
Ken observers are of the opinion that before the end of the first tenure of this government, a would be achieved in the education sector across the 27 local government areas of the state.
