98% of Kano primary school teachers are qualified – Ganduje

From Mustapha Adamu, Kano

Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje of Kano State has stated that 98 percent of primary school teachers in the state are qualified.
He said the feat was achieved through sustainable training and re-training of primary school teachers by his administration.
Ganduje stated this during the inauguration of distribution of instructional materials and furniture to basic education schools, held at the premises of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) on Friday.
He declared that so far, the government has trained and upgraded teachers in the state whereby 98 percent of the primary school teachers have obtained the lowest teaching qualification, Nigerian Certificate of Education (NCE).
The governor, however stated that the instructional materials, worth N150 million were provided for sustainability of free and compulsory primary and basic education policy in the state.
According to him, the resolve of his administration to make the unique education policy was considering the fact that education would be the only bedrock of development of the state.
“This evening we are distributing millions of items that include books, writing materials and furniture and so many other learning materials that will make teaching and learning effective in respective schools.
“ There is no doubt that in Kano, free, compulsory basic and secondary education policy has become a reality. This policy is based on our conviction that education is a must and very necessary to the development of Kano state.
“We have taken statistics of the number of out-of-school children in the state. We have taken statistics of the number our children in conventional schools. We have taken statistics of the number of our children on Qu’ranic schools. We have also taken statistics of the number of our children who are not attending school at all.
“We have also taken the data of the number of Almajarai in the state. We have concluded plans to send them to boarding schools where they will be provided with uniforms and other learning materials.”
“We have also collected data of our teachers. They are the backbone of education. We have taken data on the qualification of our teachers and those of them who are not qualified, by now they are having the minimum of Nigerian Certificate in Education NCE. By now we have about 98% of qualified teachers in our primary school,” Ganduje stated.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of SUBEB, Dr Danlami Hayyo stated that the board had recorded tremendous successe during the Ganduje administration.
According to him, he had never seen a tremendous education reform in the history of Kano like that of Ganduje administration, calling on education secretaries and head teachers to judiciously utilize the items provided by the government.
Our correspondent reports that Governor Ganduje also splashed N100,000 each to 200 best performing primary school teachers across the 44 local government areas of the state.