…Scores Education Performance In Gombe High
…Inaugurates Task Force On Completion, Take-off Of Mega Schools
…Earmarks N4.5b To Fund Project
Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya earlier today took a cursory look at the education sector in Gombe from the sordid and pitiable position when he took over the mantle of leadership to where it is presently and declared that there’s no need to extend the state of emergency he earlier declared in the sector beyond December this year.
According to a press release on Wednesday, 7th September 2022 signed by the Director-General (Press Affairs) Gombe Government House, Ismaila Uba Misilli, he said that the Governor stated this during the inauguration of a Task Force on completion, a take-off of mega schools.
“We have moved away from the state of total collapse I met in 2019 that prompted us to declare a state of emergency in the education sector to a state of great competitiveness”, he said.
“From an academic pass ratio in Secondary School Certificate of 26% in 2019, Gombe State’s Students have recorded an 87% success rate in 2021”, Governor Inuwa asserted.
“Since we declared a state of emergency, there have been various interventions. The World Bank is helping us.
“And SUBEB is doing a lot”.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya said his government remains resolute in providing sound and qualitative education for all citizens of Gombe State.
He explained that, since he assumed office in 2019, his government has been doing everything possible to provide quality education despite challenges.
He added that the state of emergency declared by his administration on education was meant to turn around the sector by providing the necessary human and material resources needed for it to function effectively.
Governor Inuwa noted that his government, despite the problem it inherited, has recorded tremendous achievements in education in the three years of his stewardship.
“Recall that in September 2019 when we went to launch BESDA Programme at Mallam Sidi, UNICEF mentioned that we had about five hundred thousand out-of-school children, which I quite believe that the number may be way higher. But with BESDA we were able to take about 350 or even more out-of-school children back to classes”.
He said apart from interventions in basic education, his administration is also investing heavily in secondary and tertiary education.
“Our declaration of a state of emergency did not mean that we will stop only in BESDA and other collaborative projects, Internally our concern should be on what we do with basic and secondary education. I am proud that this government can achieve virtually all the targets we set for basic education.
“But for secondary education, we realized the gaps, and we took the advantage of the state of emergency to cover those gaps and deliver on the secondary education. Which means that from basic to secondary and even tertiary levels would have been linked up from head to toe, we would have got the quality that we desire to have in education in Gombe State” he added.
Speaking on the logic behind providing the mega schools, Governor Inuwa said, “Our target of setting up these special schools is to see that we close the education gap and to see that we were able to deliver on our mandate and meet the yearnings of our people”.
“These Mega Schools will serve as models; with them, we can backtrack and see even those that were left behind have caught up, and education is restored to the old glory where we have very sound and qualitative education that we can compete with any other place in the world. That is the spirit with which we are setting up these committees”, he noted.
The governor assured that his government has raised the sum of 4.5 billion Naira through Sukuk for adequate funding of the Mega Schools Project which aims to establish cosmopolitan schools with state-of-the-art facilities to make teaching and learning more conducive and effective with qualified and well-trained teachers for optimal performance.
He charged members of the task force to work diligently in the discharge of their assigned responsibilities.
Responding, to the Chairman of the Coordinating Team who is also the Commissioner for Education, Hon. Dauda Maji Batari Zambuk thanked Governor Inuwa Yahaya for finding them worthy of the task, pledging that they will not betray the confidence reposed in them.
He applauded the governor for his foresight in embarking on the mega school project which he said will go a long way in tackling the problems bedeviling the education sector in Gombe State.
“Of the 114 wards we have in Gombe State there is non that His Excellency has not touched by renovating or building a brand new school”, he noted.
Mr. Batari Zambuk also extolled the governor for the recruitment of 1000 qualified teachers and his massive intervention in physical structures and facilities among others that saw the improvement of students’ performance in external examinations in the state.
The chairman assured the governor that the committee will work relentlessly to deliver on its assignment.
The task force comprises of State Coordinating Committee and three Sub-committees each to ensure the successful completion and take-off of one Mega School in each of the three Senatorial Districts of the state.
The three (3) Mega Schools are Government Secondary School, GSS Dukku, Government Comprehensive Day Secondary School, GCDSS Dadin-Kowa, Government Science Secondary School, and GSSS Lakanje-Kaltungo.
The Task Force is required to submit interim reports as per the milestone achieved in the course of the assignment. However, it shall submit its final report by the end of December 2022.
