From Femi Oyelola in Kaduna
Governor Uba Sani led Kaduna State Government has announced plan in partnership with international agencies, to build 102 new schools, renovate 170 others and return 200,000 out-of-school children back to school.
The Project Coordinator, Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROSC), Ezra Angai who led an advocacy visit to the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Hon. Liman Dahiru reiterated the Government’s unwavering commitment to providing quality and affordable education for every child.
Angai said the State Government has partnered with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED), Global Partnership for Education (GPE), Education Above All (EAA), Save the Children International (SCI), and UNICEF to address the pressing issue of out-of-school children.
Explaining that the project is an initiative of the Kaduna State Government to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state, Angai said, the administration of Senator Uba Sani has been particular about education and the need to reduce the number of out-of-school children.
The Project Coordinator while noting that, the initiative would be implemented over a four-year period in across the 23 local government areas of the State, said the specific objectives of the project include, to improve access to quality education through the construction of 102 schools and the renovation of 170 schools.
According to him, “the project will further seek to enhance the quality of education through teacher training and capacity building of teachers, as well as the provision of teaching and learning materials to ensure that the children who are returned to school receive quality education. The third objective of the project will be to strengthen the education system itself.”
The coordinator noted, “that the Kaduna State Government has already played a pivotal role in this direction by ensuring that it is probably the first state in the country to allocate 25 percent of its yearly budget to the education sector. This allocation indicates the seriousness that the Kaduna State places on education and impacts directly on the third objective of the project, which is to strengthen the education system to ensure that the budget allocated is properly administered.
