By Balarabe Abdullahi Kiru
Kano State Government says it has set aside 49% of its 2023 budget allocation on education as part of its commitment to revitalize the sector.
This was made known by the state Commissioner of Education Alhaji Umar Haruna Doguwa during a meeting with staff of five agencies under the ministry held at Rumfa College, Kano.
Doguwa maintained that the present administration of Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf attaches more priority to the education sector considering its position as backbone of human development.
The Commissioner explained that just recently, the administration had paid over N1.3 billion for the settlement of 57,000 Students who sat for the NECO, WEAC, and NBAIS examinations.
Doguwa said the state Governor is fully aware of the total collapse of the education sector which he associated with a lack of concern and commitment by the previous government.
He explained that from the investigation made so far, there are over four million students across the state sitting on the floor while some schools are having only one teacher, a situation he described as pathetic.
According to the Commissioner, the state is taking serious measures to bring all the possible changes in both the primary and secondary education system of the state.
“As part of this measure, we noticed that most of our Zonal Offices are filled up with competent staff who are supposed to teach in the classroom but are there doing nothing. As of now, no Zonal office under any agency should get more than 22 staff while the rest must be reposted to classrooms based on merit and profession.
“It is very sad to note that just in Kano North, there are over 400 Schools with only one teacher per School ” he lamented.
On the issue of Principal Directorship, the Commissioner said the ministry is going to pass a circular that bans using Principal Director, stressing that “You either be a Principal or Director because the position of Principal is equally very important.”
He however reaffirmed the government’s commitment to sanitize private school operations in the state, pointing out that the administration would no longer allow posting of public school teachers to private school and any officer found wanting should be furnished accordingly.
“We are changing the entire registration system of private schools to be online. So from now on, no person shall use his personal account to register any private school, and doing that violates our rules and regulations,” disclosed Doguwa.
He said the ministry would provide a new improved timebook that indicates ‘time in and time out’ to ensure punctuality among the teaching and non-teaching staff.
“In every class, a sign sheet will be provided for a teacher to sign at the end of every lesson and that sheet will be collected monthly and sent to the ministry for checking,” he announced.
The Commissioner assured the staff of the government’s commitment to improving their working condition, urging them to make use of their vast experiences to ensure that the education sector achieves greater success.
Speaking, the Special Adviser to the Governor on vocational and education Alh. Habib Hassan El-Yakub implored wealthy individuals in the state to complement the effort of the present administration to improve the education sector.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education Hajiya Kubra Imam explained that the meeting was organized to discuss on several issues regarding the state education sector and how to improve the system.
In his closing remarks, the Executive Secretary of Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board, Dr. Kabiru Ado Zakirai urged the staff to join hands together in actualizing the new policies and programs introduced by the present administration to revitalize the sector.
