Kaduna govt awards contracts for renovation of 457 schools

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

Kaduna State Government said it has awarded contracts for the rehabilitation of 457 primary and secondary schools under emergency intervention from 2016 to date.
Prof. Andrew Nok, the State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology disclosed this at the distribution of 250 chairs to Government Girls Secondary School, Tudun Nupawa in Kaduna yesterday.
Nok, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Adamu Mansur, said 360 schools had been renovated so far, while others were at various stages of completion.
He said the effort became necessary to improve learning environment for better output.
The commissioner said the state government was committed to improve quality of teaching and learning in public schools to enable them to compete favourably with private schools.
According to the commissioner, over 90,000 chairs have been distributed to various schools in the state.
“When the current administration took over the governance of the state, our schools were dilapidated; students were sitting on bare floors and windows, while laboratories were without equipment.
“To address the problem, the government embarked on renovation, re-construction and equipping of public schools with necessary facilities.
“Therefore, distribution of chairs will continue until all public schools are well equipped to provide quality teaching in our schools, “Nok said.
He said the state government had awarded contracts for the supply of 256, 182 units of chairs.
He said of the figures, 167,982 chairs would be supplied to primary schools while the remaining 18,200 would be distributed to secondary schools.
Responding, the Principal of the school, Hajiya Sakinatu Aliyu, commended the state government for the gesture.
“With these chairs, many of our students will no longer be sitting on the ground, “she said.