By Aliyu Dangida
Kano state government said it has spent N1.3 billion on payments to the National Examination Council and National Board for Technical Education registration fees of 57,000 indigent students of the state.
Governor Abba Kabir-Yusuf disclosed this on Monday while flagging off the distribution of over two million educational materials to basic and post-basic schools.
He said that his administration accorded priority to the provision of modern learning materials to public schools in the state.
“The era of pupils receiving lectures on the bare floor is totally over in our state. Already, we have a blueprint to ensure the provision of furniture for public institutions.
“We are operating a responsible government that would ensure the provision of qualitative and sound education for our pupils,” Yusuf said.
He announced that the state government is constructing 130 new girls and boys schools in a bid to enroll out-of-school children in the next one year.
He also disclosed that the state was also paying N20,000 monthly stipend to 40,000 indigent girls to encourage enrollment, retention and completion of schools. While 5,000 members of the State Basic Education Service Delivery Association would be employed by the government.
“I directed the committee set up to screen members of the Basic Education Service Delivery Association to submit their names and qualifications for quick employment by the government,” he stated.
The governor advised public officeholders to ensure probity and transparency in the discharge of their duties, warning that his administration would not condone corruption and embezzlement.
Earlier in his remark, the Commissioner for Education, Umar Haruna-Doguwa, reaffirmed the state government’s commitment to enhance access to free quality education for all through the provision of basic learning materials to schools across the 44 LGAs.