The Kano State Governor, Alhaji Abba Kabir Yusuf has said that no fewer than 4.7 million pupils in primary schools were sitting on bare floors across the state when he assumed as the governor of the state on May 29, 2023.
Gov. Yusuf made the revelation during the declaration of state of emergency on education in Kano, held at the Government House Kano.
According to him, the lack of instructional materials further compounded the problem, “leaving teachers and students to struggle with outdated and insufficient resources.
“Above 4.7 million pupils were sitting on bare floors to take lessons while about 400 schools have only one teacher for all classes and all pupils.
However,when members of Journalists,of the Correspondent’s chapel on the sight seen to some schools in the state ,it was also discovered that a lot of challenges facing some schools
When speaking with Headmaster of Garindau Primary School, in Warawa local government area of Kano State, Mallam Murtala Aliyu has urged the state government to provide the school adequate qualified teachers as there are only 18 teachers in the school.
“One very important thing is that we need more qualified teachers because there are only 18 teachers in this school with over 2,000 pupils. We also need a dispensary and a health worker.
“We have 2,012 pupils in all, so we need more toilets, we need a solar powered borehole to provide safe drinking water for the school.
However,the story was same at
rChula Central Primary School in Ajingi local government area, where the Headmaster, Haruna Ibrahim, complained that they lacked enough classes for their 1,270 pupils, adding that they also don’t have enough teachers.
According to him”We also require additional classrooms here because the primary schools in the neighbouring villages come here to write their common entrance examinations.
“We need a fence round the school, a staffroom, a dispensary, more toilets, furniture and a library” he said.
The headmasters called on the state government to ensure the total overhaul of the education sector under the current state of emergency in education in the state.
“Just yesterday (Tuesday) we received 80 pieces of the three-seater chairs and desks but we need five times the number considering the number of students we are having in the school.
Headmaster of Sabon Layi Primary School, Bichi in Bichi Local Government Area, Malam Auwal Abubakar Baduku, has lamented over the absence of some facilities necessary for conducive teaching and learning in the school.
According to him,the Headmaster therefore made a passionate appeal to the state governor Abba Kabir Yusuf to come into aid of the School adding that with Pupils population of 1,764 they were sharing four toilets with their teachers
He said the school virtually lacks furniture as most of the 1,764 pupils receive lessons on bare floor and with only four toilets shared between the teachers and the pupils.
Our School is facing acute shortage of teachers as there were only 39 teaching staff(both permanent, temporary and casual) handling 18 classrooms on the basis of one teacher per three classroom.
However, governor Yusuf, while reacting to some of decay facing educational sectors ,he blamed the previous administrations adding that ” Rather than building more classrooms and providing basic furniture in the schools, as well as hiring more teachers, the administration we took over chose to butcher the land belonging to those schools, in some places demolishing classrooms to create space for shops.
“Those schools that they could not sell, they closed them down and got them vandalized. The encroachment of public school lands and the conversion of these vital institutions into private business premises is an affront to our communal values and a direct assault on our commitment to public education.
“This reckless appropriation of educational spaces for commercial use is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” he said.
The governor restated the commitment of his administration to address the precarious state of the education sector in the state.
He also stated that in an efforts to tackle this decay in educational sectors ,the present administration
has distributed 73,800 three-seater desks to schools across the 44 local government areas of the state.
This is part of his determined effort to implement components of the State of Emergency on Education and improve the education sector.
He highlighted that the provision of furniture is a significant step in the ongoing commitment to improving education in the state, which serves as the foundation of any prosperous society.
Gov Yusuf reiterated that the Kano State Government is deeply committed to ensuring that every child in Kano has the opportunity to learn in a conducive atmosphere that allows them to focus, dream, and grow, as promised during the 2023 election campaign.
“The desks provided represent a significant stride toward addressing challenges in the education sector, providing our students with the comfort and dignity they deserve,” the Governor said.
“This initiative is not merely about providing furniture; it is about restoring confidence and hope in the hearts of students.
