Alhaji Lawal Buhari-Daura, the Executive Chairman of Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has rolled out some achievements of Gov. Aminu Masari on basic education from 2015 to date.
Alhaji Buhari-Daura revealed the achievements in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Katsina.
According to him, since the inception of the administration in 2015, the state has recorded huge successes, especially in terms of basic education.
“From the beginning when I came on board, we first studied what was needed to improve the sector, especially the education of our children from primary to junior secondary Schools.
“The administration in 2015, has spent over N18.6 billion to construct, rehabilitate classes and provide them with chairs and other necessary facilities.
“Within the period, the government has constructed and renovated 7,800 schools in the state, connected them with electricity, provided furniture and all the necessary learning facilities.
“About 82,757 chairs were procured within the eighth years of governor Masari administration across primary, junior secondary Schools and Early Child Care Development (ECCD),” he said.
According to him, the state government has done a lot on instructional materials and communications books, revealing that over N1.8 billion was spent within the period.
Buhari-Daura said that the state government also promoted over 21,000 teachers, adding that, “When we came on board, we realised that since 2012, teachers were not enjoying promotion.”
He revealed that immediately the governor ordered for their promotion, and since then there was never a year that teachers in the state missed promotion.
According to him, the prompt payment of salaries was another success recorded by this administration which he said they are proud of.
“When we came, there were only 19,000 teachers in the state, but at the moment, we have over 23,331 that are permanent and pensionable.
“We also recruited 2,000 graduates and about 5,000 NCE and Diploma holders for the S-POWER programme, and they are being paid N25,000 and N20,000 monthly. Over N100 million is spent on this every month.”
The SUBEB boss added that over 35,000 teachers received different training in the state aimed at updating their knowledge.
He further explained that the board facilitated the participation of students in various debates and competitions within and outside Nigeria where they performed very well.
“Every year we give our matching grant without delay, we have never missed a year. It’s a collaboration between the state government and Federal Government towards boosting education.
“We are spending about N3 billion every year as our contribution, that’s why wherever you go in the state, any project you see in our schools, it’s either through the matching grant or state intervention.
“Any school you see with blue and white paint across the 34 Local Government Areas (LGAs) in the state, it’s the state intervention,” he revealed.
“In terms of girl child education, we have also recorded a lot of success, especially in the area of their enrollment, because as I am talking to you, the difference between the girls and the boys enrollment is little.
“When we came on board, the enrollment was about a million, but at the moment, we have over three million girls enrolled in school.
“And recently, the world bank has been supporting the girl students with N20,000 each every month, this has really helped the effort of the state government.
“And also, the school feeding introduced by the Federal Government also helped, which we are praying and hoping that the next administration will continue.”
According to him, People with special needs were not left behind by the administration because they have been giving them special treatment.
The students are provided with wheelchairs and also including some of them who graduated in our employment,” he disclosed.
He noted that over 294 Qur’anic schools in the state were integrated and provided with all the necessary facilities, saying that over 408,000 almajiri children were enrolled in school.
NAN
