As part of her efforts to encourage enrollment of children into school, the Wife of Kebbi Governor, Hajiya Zainab Nasare Nasir Idris in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary School Education has distributed school kits to 200 pupils at Tarasa and Gawassu primary schools in Birnin Kebbi Local Government Area of Kebbi state.
Khadijat Saidu, the Press Secretary to Nasare, in a statement on Wednesday, quoted the Governor’s wife during the distribution of the material to pupils in the school saying “The gesture was borne out of her passion for seeing children enrolled into schools.”
“We have just Kick-starts with Tarasa and Gawassu primary schools as a pilot scheme, but we are going to cover the whole 21 Local Government Areas of the state” Zainab Assured.
“200 pupils would benefit from the scheme with 50 boys and 50 girls in each of the two primary schools.” She added.
She also said, the state Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education would conduct a head count of pupils in these schools in the next few weeks as a record for onward impact assessment of the scheme.
The headcount aims to meet up with the national enrollment demands in bridging the enrollment gap.
“Zainab therefore assures that as soon as the demands are met, and the enrollment increases, 6 secondary schools will be built next year in those communities,”.
While urging members of the communities to monitor the punctuality of teachers posted to schools in their communities and report unpunctual and derelict behavior of teachers to appropriate authorities, she appealed to the stakeholders, especially parents and traditional rulers to ensure there is enrollment compliance within their domains for betterment and productivity of the society.
Speaking earlier, Dr. Halima Muhammad-Bande, the state Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education, said the Kebbi state government had expended N2.5 billion to improve the standards of basic and secondary schools in the state.
She said: “Governor 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 over N1.8 million from May to July.
“There is also payment of N55.6 million enhanced feeding to boarding secondary school and also a N20 million payment for the conduct of basic education certificates for 2023,” adding that the government spent N20 million to sponsor national conference which was held in Delta state and 5.4 million naira for joint consultative council meeting in Makurdi, Benue state.
“As part of his commitment to reforming the education sector, the governor has 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.”
The materials distributed included school uniforms, exercise notebooks, pencils, cleaners, school handbags, and sandal shoes, among others.
