Kano State Governor, Abba Kabir Yusuf, has committed his government to educating every child in the state and is rolling out policies and programmes to meet the objective.
Putting the state’s treasury where his mouth is, the governor has said the state’s budgetary allocation is an unprecedented 29.95 per cent of the N437 billion 2024 budget, which is the highest in any state of the federation.
In recent weeks, Governor Yusuf has declared a state of emergency on education, which was quickly followed by an education recovery conference that brought together policymakers, stakeholders in the education sector and development partners to chart a way forward.
At the recovery conference held at Bayero University recently, Governor Yusuf said his government, since coming into office, has spent over N2 billion to acquire and distribute instructional materials to basic and post-basic schools across the state.
The conference was held in collaboration with the UKAid, PLANE Nigeria and Arewa Consultative Forum with the theme, ‘Repositioning Education in Kano state: Navigating the Path to Excellence.
He said, “We have approved the release of over N2.7bn for the construction of the first phase of 176 classrooms and 88 offices across the 44 local governments. We have also approved and released N1.9 billion for the renovation and upgrade of 220 schools. We have also completed the construction of 336 new classrooms.
His government has also recruited some 5,623 teachers through the BESDA initiative and plans to recruit 4,000 more to boost primary schools in the state.
During the conference, he said education is not merely a pathway to individual success but is a collective societal progress, economic development and prosperity. “It is our duty as custodians of public trust to ensure that every child in Kano receives a quality education that will prepare them for challenges and the opportunities of the 21st century,” the governor said.
Our goal, he said, “is to identify optional strategies and policies that will enable us to overcome the existing challenges and build an inclusive and responsive education system in the state.
“Our vision is critical. It is crystal clear and we are deeply committed to the attainment of the objectives of the declaration.”
At the end of the emergency period, he said, “We intend to achieve the following; make every school a good school, every child enrolled in school, every student engaged and an engaged learner, every teacher a caring educator, every parent a dedicated partner, every community a committed stakeholder and the government, a committed investor in human capital development.”
Speaking of the state of the sector under the previous administration, Gov Yusuf said “Kano State’s education system has experienced serious dilapidation with decaying infrastructure in schools and very low learning outcomes and performance.”
He said his government met schools and the entire education system in a state of unacceptable neglect, inheriting a collapsed system deliberately destroyed and vandalized.
Yet the state was running a free and compulsory education system under a law that had been put in place.
As a government, he said, “We must therefore provide all the materials needed to reinvigorate the system, hence the declaration of the state of emergency and the convocation of the education recovery conference.”
