Musa Na Allah Sokoto
The Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC and the World Bank are driving sustainable support and expansion of work plan towards enrolment and reduction of Out of School Children in Sokoto state.
The commission is committed to the core of its mandate but decried the low rate of literacy which it said the emphasis was being tailored at reversing the trend through boosting the establishment of formal and non-formal learning facilities in 17 BESDA states.
The disclosures were made by the Commission’s National Implementation Adviser on BESDA programs, Danjuma Adamu Dabo in Sokoto.
Dabo who chaired a team of officials on a visit to Sokoto to inspect and assess the State Universal Basic Education Board’s BESDA activities also noted that the state’s exceptional performance was commendable adding that ” it has surpassed the margin ratio.”
According to the team leader, “we visited six project sites out of the 76 formal and non-formal centres across the state. It is well commendable.
“Though the number of centres is inadequate compared to the population of those out of school. We are impressed to observe that communities are also actively and collectively involved in the process of establishing learning centres for themselves.”
The UBEC official further expressed that the SUBEB initiative of establishing skills acquisition centres to drive the mandate of the commission of boosting enrolment of OOSC (women and youths) was on course.
He said a workshop for Directors and Focal officers of BESDA will soon be conducted to identify areas of success and challenges recorded for a comprehensive report.
“This initiative is key as the World Bank is equally interested in the sustainability of the BESDA project.
“Areas, where states can sustain programs for intervention to fight illiteracy and reduce Out of School Children population will be deliberately supported to strengthen its scope ” Dabo assured.
Earlier, the SUBEB Chairman, Hon. Altine Kajiji said the board initiative of establishing the centre was directly aimed at reducing the OOSC ratio by giving them the opportunity to acquire basic knowledge and skills in trades.
“Today, Sokoto state has the highest number of centres driving the BESDA projects and activities.”
He said the centres comprise formal and non-formal centres with emphasis on Skills Acquisition windows.
” We are doing that to address the peculiarity of our situation which is dominated by a non-formal system. That is why we have to be more committed to driving the idea of domesticating skills acquisition initiatives for our people.
” The centres drive skills in welding, carpentry, tailoring, knitting, beads and designs among others”, Kajiji pointed out.
