By Haruna Ibrahim
The wife of the Kebbi State Governor, Hajiya Zainab Idris, has distributed primary school kits to 200 pupils at Tarasa and Gawassu primary schools to encourage enrollment of children in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area of the State.
Hajiya Idris, who distributed the materials in Tarasa community of Birnin Kebbi on Wednesday, said the gesture was borne out of her passion of seeing more children enrolled into primary schools.
She said, “We have just started with Tarasa and Gawassu primary schools as a pilot scheme, but we are going to cover the whole state.
“200 fresh pupils would benefit from the scheme in the those schools: 50 boys and 50 girls in each of the two primary schools.”
Idris said that the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education would conduct head- count of pupils in the schools in the next few weeks as a record for onwards impact assessment of the impact of the scheme in 2024.
“The aim of the head- count is to meet up with the national enrollment demands.
“I am assuring you as soon the demands are met, and enrollment increased, secondary schools will be built next year in those communities,” she assured.
Idris urged the members of the communities to monitor punctuality of teachers posted to schools in their communities and report unpunctual and derelict behaviour of teachers to appropriate authorities.
The governor’s wife appealed to the stakeholders, especially parents and traditional rulers to ensure enrolment compliance within their domains for betterment and productivity of the society.
Earlier, Dr Halima Muhammad- Bande, the State Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education, said that the government had expended N2.5 billion to improve standards of basic and secondary schools in the State.
She said, “Gov. Nasir Idris, has done his best since the day he assumed as the governor of the state in the area of education, as he has been able to pay school feeding of N1.8 million from May to July.
“There is also payment of N55.6 million enhanced feeding to boarding secondary school and N20 million payment for the conduct of basic education certificates for 2023.”
Muhammad-Bande added that the government spent N20 million to sponsor national conference which was held in Delta and N5.4 million for joint consultative council meeting in Makurdi, Benue state.
“As part of his commitment to reforming education sector, the governor approved the domestication of the National Assembly Act of new retirement age for teachers from 60 years to 65 years by birth and 35 years to 40 years of service,” she said.
Muhammad-Bande said that the “teachers are kings in the state” as the education sector was very familiar to the governor who is a professional teacher, labour activist and education friendly.
Alhaji Aminu Sarkin-Fada, the Chairman of Birnin Kebbi local government, called on well- to- do individuals and philanthropists to assist the education in anyway they could in order to complement the efforts of the government in building a productive society.
The materials distributed included school uniforms, exercise note books, pencil, cleaners, school hand bags, and sandal shoes, among others.