By Najem Francis, Sokoto
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal has flagged off one of Nigeria’s largest school enrolment drive with a target of 1.4 million new intakes in the next one year.
The event took place at Fiji Village in Rabah Local Government Area, the birthplace of the late Sardauna of Sokoto and Premier of Northern Region, Sir Ahmadu Bello.
The occasion also witnessed the official launch of the State cash transfer scheme, the Nigerian Partnership for Education Project and the prototype early childhood development centres (ECD)
Speaking at the occasion, the governor said that his administration would continue to invest significant amount of time and resources in order to turn around the fortunes of the education sector.
“The enrollment drive is a high level advocacy mechanism which ensures that all stakeholders partake in ensuring effective awareness and mobilization of parents, guardians, communities, religious and traditional leaders as well as the school based management committees on the importance of enrolling all school-age children into schools,” he said.
He said that the enrollment campaign would primarily concentrate on community level activities especially house to house campaigns.
“This will be achieved through empowerment of SBMCs, Mothers’ Associations (SA), religious and traditional leaders and other stakeholders to conduct campaign in their communities”, he added.
“They will, in addition, regularly track and monitor attendance of enrolled children in their respective schools and communities as part of their oversight responsibilities,” he added.
Also speaking earlier, the state Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Jabbi Kilgori, said though the figure of 1.4 million new intakes into schools was ambitious, it was realisable because of government’s plan to integrate 4,000 Quranic schools with existing school models and other strategies.
According to him, the planning and implementation process for the enrolment drive involves working with state legislators and religious leaders while partnering with the media and at the same time collaborating with the national Population Commission for data of new births in various communities.
He said records from the 2016/2017 enrolment drive has shown significant reduction in out pf school children, 7.3 percent increase in pre-primary and primary school children out of which 4.4 percent were girls.
In his goodwill message, UNICEF’s acting chief of field office for Sokoto, Zamfara and Kebbi, Mr. Paul Mudzondo, said the event was unique and historic in the sense that apart from campaign for enrolment, the state government has provided stipends to poor families to support enrollment and sustenance of children especially girls in schools.
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