I want to transform Funtua health tech school to university – Principal

Can you tell us about the institution? The Muslim Community School of Health Technology, Funtua was established by Muslim Students Society of Nigeria MSSN, in 1997, as a training ground for auxiliary nurses; we call it nursing auxiliary training, which got its female students from villages, around Funtua who undergo training for a period of […]

Can you tell us about the institution?
The Muslim Community School of Health Technology, Funtua was established by Muslim Students Society of Nigeria MSSN, in 1997, as a training ground for auxiliary nurses; we call it nursing auxiliary training, which got its female students from villages, around Funtua who undergo training for a period of nine months. They normally attend classes for five months, and they are then sent for practical attachment in hospitals for four months, making the complete nine months for the whole programme.
Then in 1999 when about 72 students were trained, an elder from the zone, Dr. Tukur Abdullah, heard about the graduation of the students and he invited us for discussion. That discussion led to the transformation of the programme of auxiliary nursing training to an affiliated programme of the School of Health Technology with his Islamiyya Foundation School of Health in Tudun Wada, Kaduna which began in 1999.
The first set of junior community health education workers was then admitted; those that qualify for what we call Certificate in Community Health. In 2000 we invited the accreditation body from the Federal Ministry of Health, which came and inspected our facilities. They were impressed and offered us provisional accreditation.
Having attained that feat, and realising that we have made an appreciable headway, the accreditation body offered us another accreditation to start a diploma programme in Community Health and that is when we had the certificate programme in community health that we call junior community extension workers for those who undergo a diploma programme which all were on provisional accreditation pending the provision of many, many things that the board outlined for us. At the time, the venue of the programme was the Local Government Heath Department, later the Jama’atu Izalatul Bid’ah Wa’ikamatus Sunnah rented us its facility; a school on Zaria road opposite MTD police station where they built the girls official vocational training centre. The group rented us two classes which got us the second accreditation provisionally and then the board instructed that we must have a permanent site because they couldn’t allow a School of Health Technology sharing facilities with a girls’ vocational training centre.
So that was the beginning of the second part of the struggle which led to push for a permanent site. And when the Funtua Local Government under Alhaji Lawal Usman, the then sole administrator loaned us part of the Infectious Diseases Hospital IDH behind the Funtua General Hospital, we converted it into our permanent site. The place was highly dilapidated; it was out of service for many years but we managed to renovate three classes and with the support and assistance of the local government and many other philanthropists we have developed the place by constructing many classes now. We have 13 classrooms now at the site, we also have hostel facilities that accommodate female students and many more, like the library, the internet centre, ICT, the demonstration rooms and new administrative blocks.
What are the modest achievements of the school so far?
Well, so far we have achieved a lot in many areas of academic development. We have got a lot of people who are inclined to support us in many ways. However, the affiliation we got from the Islamiyya Foundation, we see it as one very important milestone in the history of the school. The accreditation we got in 2000 from the Ministry of Health, the permanent site we got, are our major achievements. The support and assistance we got from Kano State Government in 2006 which led us to obtain the big football pitch we are having, the school bus and some other structures are also an achievement. Also the introduction of various courses from just 20 students, who we trained to obtain certificate in Community Health and then diploma in community health, can be seen as achievement. We also have diploma in environmental health, certificate in environmental health; diploma and certificate courses in dental therapy and dental surgery assistants; and health information management. These are courses which we have introduced which are being pursued by about 600 students who enrolled into the school yearly. The enrolment started from Funtua Local Government and its environs and we have spread our tentacles to 23 states in Nigeria including far southern states.
States like Lagos, Osun and Enugu do send their students here to study. Even the support of the state governments in leasing some of their staff to our school’s demonstration clinic – some of the teaching staff are government workers who come here to support us while collecting their salaries from the state government – this is also a monumental stride.
But one outstanding achievement we always thank Allah for is that despite the little resources at our disposal, for many years sequentially, this school’s products have been among the best from all the schools that conduct the national examination for community health and for environmental health. We have fared very well in the national examination index and for three years we have been the best among our peers.
Being the first and only Muslim community school of health in Katsina State, what is the extent of financial commitment of the state government in supporting the school?
Actually to date there isn’t any financial support from the Katsina State government but as I mentioned earlier, the moral support given to us and the enabling environment to establish the school are very good and encouraging things. Also, allowing the local government to give us a permanent site is among the support from the state government. We also have many staff from the Local Government Service Commission that are working with us. But we still solicit for financial support from the state government to augment the training of the much needed health care manpower particularly at the grassroots level.
Have you ever canvassed for such a support from the government?
Unfortunately, we couldn’t get the opportunity of getting to see the governor directly. We sent letters, there was a time he ordered that we should see the Commissioner for Health and we gave the commissioner all the details and all the documents, and even invited them to come and see all that we are doing here, but up till today we haven’t heard any response from the state government.
What is the institution’s major source of funds?
When we started, we had to really depend 80% on going begging cap in hand for assistance to run the affairs of the school. The school fees were so meagre and the number of students was so small, and so we couldn’t even pay the salaries of the staff and their allowances let alone the development we have been talking about. So our major source of fund is the school fees.
What is your vision for the future?
We were in an environment here in the northern part of the country particularly in Katsina State where everybody is waiting for the state government to do almost everything – health, education, water and electricity supply, virtually everything; everybody waiting for the government. We felt that is very wrong; we felt we have to do something to augment the effort of the government. Our vision is to create a mighty higher health institution equivalent to university; we are hell-bent on achieving the feat.
Finally, what is your appeal to individuals and philanthropic organisations in aiding the school?
Actually, the school as I said covers students from more than 20 states – not only northern states even the southern states. So I want to appeal to states like Kano, Kaduna, Zamfara, Niger, Jigawa and others to come to the aid of the school being a bastion of excellent academic pride based in the northern part of this country.