Why Kebbi targets 15,000 teachers by 2015 – Commissioner

What is the state of education in Kebbi?Well, the state of education in Kebbi State under the present administration can be said to be fair because so many programmes and projects towards enhancing the education sector have been introduced and executed by the government. So I can say the state of education in Kebbi is […]

What is the state of education in Kebbi?
Well, the state of education in Kebbi State under the present administration can be said to be fair because so many programmes and projects towards enhancing the education sector have been introduced and executed by the government. So I can say the state of education in Kebbi is better now than what it was before because of the improvement we have achieved so far.
Government has provided many structures with the sole aim of decongesting the overcrowded existing schools in the state. So far, government has constructed over 200 new junior secondary schools and is upgrading secondary schools across the state and the programme is ongoing. The issue of teachers is been pursued vigorously. Few months ago, we conducted interview for new teachers. Our intention is to recruit 8,000 new teachers but at the end of the screening we got about 6,000 and we are still searching for the remaining 2,000 to fill the gap.
Government has directed that employment letters should be given to the over 6,000 screened employees so that they can be posted to their places of primary assignment. We have already made our assessment needs and the teachers would soon be posted to the schools that are in need of teachers.
 
How many teachers did the state have before the recent recruitment?
In total we had nothing less than 7,000 teachers so with the intended 8,000 teachers we are targeting about 15,000 teachers by 2015. So with the new recruitment and construction of new schools, we will decongest many schools in the state. We want to ensure that not less than 40 students should be accommodated in a class.
We have so far constructed new colleges across the state like the Emir Rashid College (boys) and Dr. Amina College (girls) and students for these colleges were drown from various schools across the state. Similar colleges were constructed in Zuru, Koko and Argungu. So the decongestion programme is on but there is no way we can achieve it without having adequate number of teachers and that is why the government embarked on recruitment of new teachers.
 
What measures did government put in place to ensure that only qualified teachers are recruited?
Well, in terms of qualified teachers as far as government is concerned a sizable number of our teachers that are presently teaching in our schools are qualified by their qualification. But it is not enough for a teacher to be good by just obtaining NCE or degree certificates; therefore government has made training and retraining programme a continuous exercise in the state. In other words, teachers are being sponsored for training and retraining programmes within and outside the state so that they can improve on their skills.
There is also collaboration between the education ministry and the National Teachers Institute (NTI) for the training of our teachers. Few months ago we selected some teachers who were withdrawn from our schools for training by the NTI. Our intention is to improve their skills and re-post them to our schools.

Schools finally resumed on October 15, how far have you gone in preparing against the Ebola Virus Disease as directed by the FG?  
Of course we met with the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau. So far we have nominated desk officers for communication between the state and the federal ministry of education. We have also trained two staff from each public school on how to handle the thermometer for the purpose of screening of our children. We have equally put in place other requirements in our schools as directed by the FG. So in a nutshell we are fully ready to protect our children against the deadly Ebola Virus Disease.
 
Is Kebbi State sponsoring its indigenes for foreign studies?
Sure, we have been sponsoring our students abroad for further studies. We are sponsoring our students especially in the field of medicine and medicine related programmes. Presently we have over 30 of our children studying medicine and other related programmes in Sudan and another 30 each in India, UK and Cyprus. So in a nutshell we have over 100 Kebbi indigenes studying medicine and other relevant programmes abroad. Our intention is to produce many doctors and engineers in the state in some years to come. This programme, like the teacher training and retraining, is a continuous exercise in the state.  
What is your reaction to the recent mass failure in WAEC exam?
Last year it was 36 per cent failure and this year it was 31 per cent so I don’t know how you can deduce massiveness from this record. However, there are so many factors attached to this failure in WAEC examination which include dearth of teachers, lack of infrastructure and lack of qualified teachers and non-availability of teaching and learning facilities in our schools among other factors. So many predisposition factors contributed to this failure and unless every sector plays its own role as expected we cannot bail ourselves out of the predicament. So government should not be blamed for the failure alone, rather we should blame all the stakeholders in the education sector. And the only way out of the mess is to put our heads together and work for the sector so that it can be transformed for the better.  
 
The federal government has constructed Almajiri model schools across the country, how many of such schools are in Kebbi State?
We have gotten only four of such schools; one each in Gwadangwaji, Birnin Kebbi, Tarasa and Koko towns. So far these are the only schools we have under the Almajiri model schools programme. And out of these schools only three are completed and put into use while the rest are yet to be completed. Honestly, three schools allocated to us are not enough and therefore the federal government should allocate more of such schools to us so that we can achieve our objective of eradicating street begging in the state and which is also the main objective for introducing the programme by the government. We have a complete boarding school meant for the physically challenged persons in the state which also is not enough for us because the fight against street begging requires a holistic approach and government is ready to partner with federal government and any other body that is willing to help in this direction.
We are calling on the Universal Basic Education Commission to consider our situation and complete the uncompleted schools and indeed allocate more schools to the state. This kind of intervention is greatly helping the state government in addressing this problem. We have many local Almajiri schools that can be converted into model schools.  
 What call do you have for the people of Kebbi?
My call to the people of Kebbi is that they should complement government efforts towards improving the education sector because the issue of education should not be left with government alone. No matter how government is willing to transform the sector it cannot do so without the support and cooperation of the people because parents, teachers, students and indeed all stakeholders in the sector, have a role to play to develop the sector and therefore all hands must be on deck to move the sector to greater heights.