The Commissioner of Education in Bauchi State, Dr Jamila Dahiru, has called on parents and guardians in the state to ensure their wards attend school in order to justify the government’s attention to the education sector.
The Commissioner made the call at the end of school visitation embarked upon by the Ministry.
According to her, it was not ideal for the state government, which had placed education among its top priorities by investing resources to upgrade school facilities without allowing students to learn.
The Commissioner said, “It is sad to mention that we are seeing the need to improve enrollment because you don’t just want to come and build structures with no one to teach.”
According to her, “We are calling the attention of parents so that people can send their children to these schools because, honestly, we cannot continue to invest resources to upgrade school facilities without students learning.
She added, “So, please, this is a clarion call to everyone that we can exchange these learning possibilities for our students.”
“We have a whole lot of schools with good infrastructure and a dedicated government that is super ready to come in and transform the system, but then we also have a nonchalant attitude from some of our communities sending their children to schools,” she said
The Commissioner also explained that her visit to some of the schools, among many others, was to understand the condition of learning, the environment, the students, and the teachers themselves.
She added that the visit was also to see areas for improvement, as the government was determined to improve and transform the quality of education in the state.
Jamila Dahiru said that, “As you can see, in various schools, we have different stories to tell, such as concerns about areas of improvement around infrastructure and areas of improvement around teacher participation and enrollment.”
The Commissioner further said, “So far, so good. We are happy with what we see because it’s a step forward, as we have seen where we can improve and where we are doing very well.”
According to her, “In terms of student attendance, we are very happy with the population in Tafawa Balewa Local Government.”
She stressed that “we have also seen an indication that we need to improve in the aspect of enrollment in Alkali Local Government, especially for our boys, and this is also an indication that we can sustain the status quo in the areas of enrollment in Tafawa Balewa Local Government.”
Some of the schools visited included the Government Secondary School (GSS), Duguri in Alkali Local Government, the Government Science Secondary School (GSSS), and Bununu in Tafawa Balewa LGA.
Others were Government Day Secondary School (GDSS) Gital in Tafawa Balewa LGA, Government Girls Secondary School (GGSS), also in Tafawa Balewa, and Government Girls Day Secondary School (GGDSS) Gyamas in Dass LGA.
