Lukman Abdulmalik
In November 2020, the former Kano State government, under the administration of Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, signed the bill for free and compulsory education across the 44 LGAs of the state, which is aimed at supporting the implementation of the government’s education policy.
The law empowers the state to sponsor all children from primary to secondary school for free and compulsory education, requiring the state to provide uniforms, reading materials, conducive teaching classrooms, and free feeding to the students.
Four years after the law, some Kano communities still lack any form of formal education, despite the construction of thousands of classrooms and the state’s free and compulsory universal basic and secondary education law.
In this investigation, Stallion Times reporter Lukman Abdulmalik visited three Kano communities that lack basic formal education.
These communities, which are still suffering from the absence of basic formal education, include Makera village in Tudun Wada LGA, Tsamaya in Takai LGA, and Gudesu in Albasu LGA.
Makera Community Members Lament Studying in Vein
On 20th November 2023, Stallion Times visited Makera village, a typical rural community tucked deeply in Tudun Wada LGA.
Makerais is about 12 kilometers away from Tudun Wada town and 15 kilometers away from Hayin Tata village.
Stallion Times discovered that Makera village, which has over 200 children of school age and is a blacksmithing community with a population of over 800 people, is one of many rural communities in Kano State where children experience wasted childhood due to the absence of schools or difficulties accessing them.
Pupils in this community have no choice but to trek 12 or 15 kilometers away from their homes to either attend Tudun Wada Primary School or Hayin Tata Primary.
From Makera to Tudun Wada town, pupils have to cross a stream before they can reach their destination, while in Hayin Tata community, the pupils have to cross three streams that overflow during the rainy season.
At 10:23 a.m., this reporter noticed seven pupils who were dusty and struggling to catch up with their other classmates who had gone far with the day’s school activities.
In response to a random question, the students told Stallion Times that they were from Makera village and were on their way to Hayin Tata Primary School.
Pupils in Makera village who are of school age must trek for approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes to access basic formal education.
Among the seven trekking pupils was KubratuHaruna, a 9-year-old and primary 3 pupil from Makera village who had a burning desire to attend school.
Kubura, one of Makera’s determined pupils, was enrolled in Hayin Tata Primary in August 2020 by her father, Haruna Ismail.
Every blessed morning, Kubura would gather a few of her books and pencils and traipse through thick bushes, farmlands, and three streams to her school.
However, whenever it rains, her joy for schooling overflows because the streams connecting to her school are flooded, making it inaccessible even to adults.
She stated, “I am passionate about education, but the lack of schools in our community makes it difficult for me to study as I can hardly meet up to three subjects in a day.
“I have to wake up at 6 a.m. every day to get ready for school; due to the long distance, it usually takes me about 2 hours and 30 minutes to get to Hayin Tata Primary School.
“I am afraid of walking through bushes, farmlands, and crossing streams because I occasionally come across reptiles on the road.
“During the rainy season, I usually suspend my education and engage in hawking in the hopes of returning to school once the rainy season has passed and the stream has dried up.”
Kubura, who still attends Hayin Tata Primary School, stated that she aspires to be a nurse.
Unfortunately, she is constantly late for school, missing all of her morning subjects, and she sometimes ends up wasting her energy on the road without learning anything.
A visit to Hayin Tata Primary School in the Hayin Tata community revealed the poor condition of the school, as it has only one block of two small classrooms that could barely accommodate 15 pupils per classroom.
Further investigations by Stallion Times discovered that not only Makera pupils attend Hayin Tata primary school but also pupils from Baban Hayi, Takalafiya, and Karamin Hayi.
Kubra’s father, Haruna Ismail, a 57-year-old blacksmith resident and resident of Makera village, revealed his desire for his daughter to acquire a basic formal education.
He said, “In Makera village, once a child has attained the age of five, the boys accompany their fathers to the farms while the girls engage either in domestic chores or hawking food and other commodities within and outside the community.
“My daughter Kubura has been struggling every day with the other few pupils in this community to attend school.
“The lack of a basic formal school establishment in our community and the distance to access any have discouraged many of the pupils from going to school.
“For my daughter Kubra, I have been encouraging her to endure and continue schooling despite her complaints about the distance from Makera to Hayin Tata, where she attends her school.
“Because in this village, as soon as the girls reach adolescence, they get married at the age of 15 or 17 with money they earned from hawking.
“While the boys relocate to cities, they take menial jobs such as hawking water in pushcarts or working on construction sites and factories.”
When asked if he could give Kubra’s hands in marriage if her education fails, Ismail sighs and replies, “If she cannot continue struggling to walk long distances to attend school or after her primary school, if I can no longer sponsor her education, I have no option but to give her out to a man who is ready.”
Kubra, in response to her father’s decision, stated, “I do not want to get married early because I want to pursue my dream of becoming a nurse.”
Stallion Times learned that the residents of the Makera community appeared to have accepted this lifestyle, which they believe helps them make ends meet, but the development threatens the community.
Ibrahim Liman, Secretary of the Tudun Wada Local Government Education Authority, said, “We are aware of the absence of basic formal schools in some communities in Tudun Wada, but I cannot grant an interview to speak on the issues without an order from the State Universal Education Board, SUBEB.”
How Lack of Basic Formal School Increasing Illiteracy, Early Marriage in Tsamaya Village
Tsamaya village, a hinterland farming community that has been in existence for over 80 years in Takai LGA, is also one of the communities suffering from a lack of access to basic formal education.
This community has a population of about 2,000 people and no fewer than 300 pupils of school age.
According to Tsamaya village residents, approximately 7 to 10 young girls marry as a result of their non-schooling nature.
Stallion Times observed that no fewer than 70 pupils attend basic formal school in distant communities, while the remaining students attend a home-based Islamiyya, which is mostly held under the trees.
Most pupils in Tsamaya village have to trek for about 45 minutes to neighbouring villages such as Gamawa, Fuloti, or Takai town to access basic education.
During a casual and leisurely conversation with some children who were discovered sitting on a tree stump, they openly revealed to Stallion Times that they had dropped out of school due to the distance.
This reporter also observed that, in addition to the distance, the pupils were afraid of crossing highways because the school they attended was across the highway.
Ibrahim Sanusi, a 5-year-old boy who struggled to speak out of the pupils sitting on the tree stump, said, “I was enrolled in Takai primary school last year.
“I only went twice; because of the distance, which I cannot bear, I stopped going to school.”
“I play and sometimes follow my father to the farm.”
However, the little boy expresses his desire to obtain a basic formal education to pursue his ambition of becoming a soldier.
In an interview, Abdullahi Ibrahim, 37, the village head of Tsamaya, lamented that the lack of basic formal education in his community is increasing the level of illiteracy among children and also leading to early marriage.
“We have had no single basic formal school for over 7 decades since Tsamaya village was established.
“Only a few of the many children in this community attend basic primary schools.
“The distance and accidents we usually record while crossing highways are the main reasons why children do not attend school in the neighbouring community.
“For example, from 2022 to 2023, we have recorded at least 15 accidents and four pupil deaths as a result of a lack of basic schooling in the Tsamaya community.
“As a result of the non-schooling nature, not less than 35 young girls under the age of 18 have married in the last two years to date.
“Honestly, the absence of a basic formal school in our community has resulted in underdevelopment in terms of illiteracy among community members.
Stallion Times observed that Tsamaya villages have about 150 houses, with at least 10 pupils of school age in each house.
Umar Ibrahim, a youth from Tsamaya village who offered to be interrogated, was seen playing with his younger ones on the street.
Ibrahim has five younger ones: two males (Usman Ibrahim and Abdullahi Ibrahim) and three females (Aisha Ibrahim, Saratu Ibrahim, and Khadija Ibrahim).
However, only two (Abdullahi Ibrahim, 9-year-old, and Saratu Ibrahim, 6-year-old) of the five attend school.
He explained, “From Tsamaya, Abdullahi, and Saratu must trek for over 3 kilometers to Fuloti, a neighbouring community, to access basic formal education.
“Both of them complain daily because the distance is about an hour of trekking before they can reach Fuloti Primary School.
“However, Usman, Khadija, and Aisha attend Islamiyya, which is organized by members of the community.”
In a random survey by Stallion Times, some young girls were backing babies, who are supposed to be schooling by now.
In response to a random question, this reporter discovered that the lack of schools in the community has forced many young girls to marry or hawk in Takai town.
The Free, Compulsory Education, Budgetary Allocations for Education in Kano
Stallion Times observed that out of the N138.28bn revised budget of the state in 2020, the education sector got the highest, i.e., N41.78bn, signifying 30.22% of the budget.
Further examination of the budget revealed that the state budgeted N10 million for the purchase of teaching and learning equipment for special education schools and N75 million for the construction of 1,000 classrooms.
Similarly, the state government reiterated the provision of free and compulsory education at the primary and secondary levels as one of its policy statements in the 2021 budget, and the education sector was allocated N4 billion in 2021.
However, in 2022, N2.2 billion was allocated to the education sector, while in the 2023 budget, the education sector secured an allocation of 4.1 billion.
Notably, in 2021, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) budgeted N150 million for the purchase of teaching and learning aid equipment, while the free and compulsory education program itself is expected to cost N241.16 million.
While at the state’s senior secondary school management board, N1.69 billion was budgeted for the free education program.
Corruption is marring free, compulsory and lack of schools in rural areas in Kano – SUBEB
In an interview with a SUBEB official who requested anonymity, he stated that the lack of access to basic formal education in some rural Kano areas is not new.
He stated that “for more than a decade, funds have been allocated to build more classrooms and schools in communities where basic formal education does not exist.
“However, this has not solved the problem because corruption has tainted the system, as funds are frequently diverted.”
“The first free education policy implemented in Kano near the end of the second tenure of the former governor of Kano State, Dr. Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, did not succeed and instead brought setbacks to the system.
He stated that the system suspended school fees and other sources of funding for schools with the understanding that the government would provide adequate resources.
But the government could not stick to the promise as schools then battled with ways to generate money for day-to-day spending.
“Ganduje suspended the system during his first term, only to reintroduce it during his second.
“But, honestly, I am not sure how this happened because they should have learned a lesson from it; it is a setback to the educational system,” he said.
Gudesu Community where Children Attend School only for 7 months in a Year
Gudesu, a village under the Faragai ward in Albasu LGA, is among the communities visited with no access to basic formal education in Kano.
The village, which appeared to be a neglected community, lacked all basic social amenities due to its location far away from Albasu town and closer to Sumail LGA.
Children in this village have no access to formal education as they have to trek about 5 kilometers to Gwagwaranda village to attend Gwagwaranda primary school.
Stallion Times discovered that students must cross two large streams between Gudesu and Gwagwanda before they can attend school.
At Muhammad Tukur’s residence, the 45-year-old village head of Gudesu in Albasu LGA bemoaned the fact that 200 students in this community do not receive formal or Islamic education.
“Seriously, our community’s lack of basic education is leading to a high level of illiteracy among our children.”
“No fewer than 40 children in this community travel long distances to school, while more than 200 remain at home doing nothing.
“Our children attend Gwagwaranda primary school in Faragai ward, which is about 5 kilometers away from Gudesu.
“Our children suffer every day just to get to school.
“The unfortunate part is that our children are unable to attend school during the rainy season due to the streams that divide the school and our community.”
“As a result, we, the community members, contributed money to build a mud classroom, but after more than four years of construction, the building collapsed and we could not continue due to a lack of funds.
“We have worked hard to ensure the establishment of a standard basic formal school, but the government has done nothing.”
Aliyu Sulaiman, a 7-year-old boy from Gudesu, expressed that “I always get tired before I reach school due to the distance.”
Sulaiman, a morning pupil who aspires to be a teacher, said he frequently missed classes because he spent all of his time trekking to Gwagwaranda primary school.
Lack of Basic Education a Threat to Children’s Life – Expert
Usman SabiuTofa, an educationist and teacher at Ulama Academy, said a child’s right to education entails the right to learn.
“Yet, many children across Kano State have no access to education in their communities.
“Without quality education, children face considerable barriers to employment later in life.
“They are more likely to suffer negative health outcomes and are less likely to participate in decisions that affect them, jeopardizing their ability to shape a better future for themselves and their societies.
“It also contributes to increased illiteracy, social isolation, illegal activities, and poverty.”
Currently, Kubara Haruna of Makera Village is threatened by her father’s decision and fears being forced into marriage because her father has stated that she will not be able to further her education. After all, the community does not have a school.
Ibrahim Sunusi of Takai’s Tsamaya village and Aliyu Sulaiman of Albasu’s Gudesu village are also tired of trekking long distances to access basic formal education.
Sulaiman, on the other hand, has stated that he is about to give up because the distance to Gwagwaranda Primary School is too much for him.
This publication was supported by the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism (WSCIJ) through Stallion Times under the Collaborative Media Engagement for Development Inclusivity and Accountability Project (CMEDIA) funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
