Sokoto state government has in the last two years halved the number of out of school children (OOSC) in the state.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal of Sokoto state made this known at a one day basic education development dialogue and the way forward organised by the state consultative committee on education development held at the International Conference Center, Kasarawa in the state metropolis.
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According to him, his administration’s declaration of emergency in the education sector at its inception and the conscientious work of the consultative committee led by the Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, has started yielding result as the number of OOSC, which between 2019/2020 was about 1.2 million, is now about 572,000.
This, he explained, means that over 600,000 children are now enrolled in schools.
”We must ensure that every child in Sokoto state goes back to school, is enrolled, enlisted and remain in school until the completion of his education,” he said
The governor also explained that the state government needs a lot of funding for the building of school infrastructure, payment of salary and provision of school materials among others.
On the need for the provision of Computer Based Test (CBT) centres, the governor assured that very soon the state government will provide them in schools where there are none.
He appealed to the organized private sector to support government’s effort towards resuscitating and sustaining the development of basic education in the state.
He said education is the collective responsibility of all because government alone can not do it, hence the need for more support from the private sector towards ensuring the younger ones get qualitative education.
He stressed that educational development is key to the existence of the citizenry, especially now that “we are battling the challenges of insecurity and so many others. Without qualitative education, we can not overcome them.”
In his remarks, the chairman of the Sokoto state consultative committee on education, Sultan Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, said the committee has constructed many schools across the state .
He explained that in all the schools computer laboratories equipped with the laptops and other information technology gadgets were provided to boost the children ability to learn computer at the basic level of their studies.
The Sultan also said very soon the committee will liase with businessmen, banks and other wealthy individuals in order to discuss the way forward on strengthening the activities of the committee without total dependence on government.
An overview of the committee’s achievements indicates that 100 integrated schools, 4 primary schools, and six junior secondary schools have been completed. Equally, two senior secondary schools were renovated at Sanyinna and Rabah towns while seven junior secondary schools are under currently under construction.
