Katsina seeks TETfund intervention on infrastructure, training

He made the plea when he paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, in his office in Abuja on Tuesday.The governor said his priority was education and urged that given the poor financial standing of the state and geographical location, TETFund should help to bail it out.He said: “If […]

He made the plea when he paid a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of TETFund, Prof. Suleiman Bogoro, in his office in Abuja on Tuesday.
The governor said his priority was education and urged that given the poor financial standing of the state and geographical location, TETFund should help to bail it out.
He said: “If TETFund takes the burden of tertiary institutions, the state government will have more fund and resources going down to foundation education, which is primary and state education.”
He also noted that content development is one aspect that TETFund should address in the state by focusing on colleges of education to produce teachers that will teach students.
Masari lamented that the state did not have teachers in English language and Mathematics, stressing that in the few places where they have, they are mostly NCE holders, adding that the classes are also over-stretched to a situation where there are 111 pupils in a class of 40.
“The issue is that we have college of education that is over 20 years old and it is still producing NCE holders. It shows really that there is lack of capacity building. We are also looking at a situation where the capacity of the lecturers is improved; our colleges of education will start producing degree holders and master’s in education,” he said.
In his remark, the TETFund executive secretary said hosting governors of states signifies the importance they attached to education – not only tertiary education but education at all levels.
He said there was no doubt that education remained the vigour through which sustainable development was guaranteed and particularly qualitative education and that TETFund would partner with the state in provision of infrastructure which it had been doing since the days of the education tax fund
 “You have been seeing what we are doing in Katsina State in federal and state institutions; it is our desire to improve on what we have done. We want to be on the same page with your desire with the people by establishing a premise for sound capital development.”