Kano State Commissioner says the de-boarding of public secondary schools by the immediate past in the state, was a premeditated approach to destroy education.
“We were made to understand that the schools were de-boarded not for security reasons, because there were no security challenges when the schools were closed down, but because the immediate past administration wanted to keep in their pocket the funds that ought to have been spent on feeding the children. This is very unfortunate”.
The Commissioner made the assertion while receiving members of Kano State Girls Education Partnership Committee, who visited him in his office.
He lamented that the de-boarding policy was not only motivated by greed but also aimed at impeding girl – child education and flooding the streets with out of school children, thus impacting negatively on the socio – economic development of the state.
“I visited a girls’ school with at Kwa, Dawakin Tofa local government, with 2,300 students prior to de-boarding which now has less than 200 students. Another girls’ school at ‘Yargaya has 3, 000 students before but because the school was de-boarded, only 500 girls now attend the school. So many girls were deprived”, the Commissioner revealed.
“With this regrettable policy, many girls were forced out of school, especially those attending science schools, because they do not have science colleges in their local government areas of origin”.
Alarmed by this development, Alh. Umar Doguwa, stated that a committee has been set up to by the state government to revisit the de-boarding policy and ensure that all boarding schools in Kano are returned to their original status, as soon as possible.
He assured that the present administration in the state is willing to collaborate with Non-governmental organizations and development partners to revamp girl – child education, and generally, to rejuvenate the education sector of the state.
In her remarks, the Co – chair, Kano State Girls Education Partnership Committee, Hajiya Mairo Bello, said the visit was to brief the Commissioner on the activities of the committee and to request him to nominate a new chairman for it, to ensure better coordination.
