Out-of-school children reduce to 700,000 in Borno state, says Governor
The Borno State government has disclosed that the out-of-school children rates from 2.2 million has reduced to 700,000, a statistic said to be about 70 percent difference in the last five years.
Penpushing reports that Governor Babagana Zulum made the disclosure at the inauguration of Government Secondary School Mairi, on Tuesday in Maiduguri, where he was accompanied by the visiting World Bank Country Director to Nigeria, Ndiame Diop.
The Governor explained that his administration had made substantial investments in education, which facilitated the construction of 104 new schools, rehabilitation of 2,931 classrooms, and distribution of millions of instructional materials to basic and post-basic schools.
“We have distributed 20 million exercise books, two million textbooks, 15 million sets of school uniforms, 700,000 school bags, and millions of other learning tools’, the governor emphasised.
Penpushing further reports that Zulum explained that about 50,000 pupils benefited from the school feeding programme annually, while 10,000 bicycles had been distributed to indigent students, to enhance access to education in rural areas.
The Governor added that the government focused on Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET), to address challenges of out-of-school youths beyond conventional schooling age.
Penpushing also reports that he stated that the government established five Vocational Enterprise Institutes, two Second-Chance Women and Girls Skills Entrepreneurship Schools, and reactivated nine Vocational Training Centres to train 5,000 artisans annually.
The visiting World Bank Country Director to Nigeria in his remarks lauded the state government’s commitment to rebuilding the education sector through partnerships, including the Multi-Sectoral Crisis Recovery Project (MCRP), Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE), and Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA).
Penpushing reports that the World Bank Country Director to Nigeria pointed out that the school is a symbol of resilience, hope and a commitment to rebuilding better after adversity
The Commissioner for Education, Innovation, Science and Technology, Lawan Wakilbe said the newly constructed school, which had been operating on a temporary site for nearly three decades, now has a permanent facility, disclosing that the state government planned to enrol 50,000 girls in schools in the next five years under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.
Penpushing further report that the governor equally inaugurated Government Girls Junior Day Secondary School Molai and Government Day Secondary School Gala-Mairi in Jere Local Government Area of the state.
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