The Kano State Government has decried the state of education, saying that a school with more than 5,000 pupils lacks classrooms and a standard toilet.
The state Commissioner for Education, Umar Haruna Doguwa, disclosed this on Wednesday while receiving a team from the British Council in his office.
Doguwa reiterated the government’s commitment to continue working closely with the British Council to address education sector challenges.
He revealed that the state was facing serious challenges undermining the progress of education and affecting the future of its younger ones.
Doguwa said it was time to revive the long-existing relationship between the Kano State Government and the British Council as the state created policies and programmes to promote the education sector.
He maintained the Council’s commendable support for Nigeria and Kano State, particularly in education. Still, more was needed to complement the present administration’s effort to revamp the sector.
“In Kano now, you have a school with 5,000 pupils without a standard toilet, no classrooms and seats. So the problem is serious and pathetic.
“In addition to this, we can find a school with 300 students without a teacher at the same time sitting on the window or bare floor,” the commissioner disclosed.
Doguwa stressed that Kano needed 1.5 million seats for its primary and post-primary students, the cost of which he estimated to be billions of naira.
He pointed out that many interventions were expected from the British Council in Kano on education, urging the Council to assist the state in addressing the lingering situation.
The commissioner however decried the increase in out-of-school children in the state and assured the public of the present administration’s determination to minimise the situation.
“Today, we have 1.5m out of schools, a situation that has to be looked into because having redundant people is like creating ground for insecurity.
“So, we need to work together and establish more schools in Kano with all the needed facilities as obtainable in Britain,” Duguwa pleaded.
Earlier, the team leader of the British Council delegation, who is also the Council Director Programme in Nigeria, Chikodi Onyemerela said his team was in the commissioner’s office to strengthen the long-existing relationship between the British Council and the government and people of Kano, particularly in the area of education.
