Education won’t collapse in Kano – Dr. Jarma
The education sector is suffering a lot in many states because of recession. What is the situation in Kano? It is very impressive owing to the wonderful leadership initiatives of our governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who never defaulted in payment of teachers’ salary at all levels. Most importantly, he ensured the payment of […]
The education sector is suffering a lot in many states because of recession. What is the situation in Kano?
It is very impressive owing to the wonderful leadership initiatives of our governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, who never defaulted in payment of teachers’ salary at all levels. Most importantly, he ensured the payment of all accreditation requests by tertiary institutions in the state as well as removing tertiary institutions from the new TSA in order to safeguard the system from collapse. Similarly, the education sector got more allocation than other sectors. The governor allocated N23.65 billion for projects in the 2016 budget.
As an assistant to the governor on higher education, what can you say are the challenges of the education sector?
The challenges are primarily that of funding but the governor has made the sector a priority, and therefore, despite the recession and shortfall in revenue, schools are meeting their obligations and that is why teachers are always busy attending to the needs of students at all levels. I can confidently tell you that there is a kind of special immunity for the education sector in Kano.
What is your take on the allegation that Kano State is encouraging capital flight by giving special scholarships to students to study abroad?
The fact is we have good schools here in Nigeria; we have both private and public universities and I feel that the huge money spent abroad, if utilized here in Nigeria, will not only produce more graduates but would enhance and improve our decayed learning infrastructure. However, as you are aware, Governor Ganduje actually inherited the system and it will take some time to make necessary adjustments in line with the situation on ground. We went to Egypt to see the condition of Kano State students not too long ago. We were there to see their academic performance, welfare and their overall situation. About 40 of them were studying various courses including medicine, pharmacy, radiology, and most of them are in 400 levels. Despite the recession in Nigeria, Governor Ganduje has pledged to continue to settle the huge debt he inherited from the past administration which includes their tuition fees and upkeep.
Do you think the 69 private universities in the country have what it takes to offer quality education comparable to global standards?
Well, Nigerian universities can produce quality graduates just like the foreign universities. For instance, part of His Excellency’s relentless effort to improve the education standard in Kano State was the payment for the accreditation of courses in Audu Bako College of Agriculture, Danbatta, Kano State Polytechnic, Kano State University of Technology, Wudil and the North West University. However, the National Universities Commission (NUC)’s determination to maintain high standards has become a challenge, but the Kano State government has constituted an Admission Drive Committee to surmount this challenge. The committee, which is fully functional, is specifically given the responsibilities to engage our various universities to accommodate our students and take some students to the various standard international universities through scholarship. Moreover, the universities need to be patronised by governments and private individuals. I would appreciate a situation whereby the Federal Government will encourage state governments and private individuals to sponsor courses that we don’t have in our universities.
In your opinion, do we need more universities to address admission gaps?
We only need to improve the capacities of the existing ones and of course, create additional ones to take care of the increased admissible students. Most importantly, we should encourage the universities to be self-sustaining by engaging in serious research so as to reduce pressure on government for funding.
Basic education is still having problems, how is the situation in Kano State?
The introduction of Education Advisory Committees in all the 44 LGAs by the Ganduje administration has effectively tackled this problem through stakeholders’ involvement in managing basic education in the state. Initially, everything was left to the local councils, but it’s been realized that they needed a kind of support and guidance to meet up with the challenges confronting them. Governor Ganduje believes that basic education is the foundation and once you get it right at that level, it would be easier to manage higher education.
How do you think the challenges facing our school children could be addressed?
The recent efforts by the state government through the introduction of Entrepreneurial Education are gradually addressing this problem. Pupils are exposed to self-reliance from the onset and this is how it should be so that at the end of the day, they may not necessarily look unto government for employment.
What is your advice to parents who are reluctant to enrol their children in school?
Parents must apprec-iate the fact that the best legacy they can give their children is education. And education is almost free at all levels here in Kano State and a child, no matter how poor his parents are, can afford to go as far as a college of education or university with minimum stress. Therefore, children should be supported to go to school so that they could be useful to themselves and the society and to become good leaders of tomorrow.