4.7 million pupils in Kano sitting on bare floor – Gov

Governor Abba Yusuf of Kano State has voiced his dismay and concern over the deteriorating standard of education in the state, revealing that upon taking office on May 29, 2023, he discovered that approximately 4.7 million primary school students were forced to sit on bare floors due to inadequate infrastructure and resources.

He also lamented that over 400 schools in Kano State are severely understaffed, with a single teacher responsible for teaching all subjects and classes, and additionally, these teachers are forced to work with obsolete and inadequate resources.

While speaking on Saturday at the Government House, during the declaration of a state of emergency on education, the governor said his administration would employ 5,000 new teachers into the state civil service to revitalise the education sector.

He decried what he termed neglect and abuse of school facilities for commercial purposes, a development he described as an assault on public education.

He stressed that the era of pupils receiving lectures under harsh conditions, such as on a bare floor, was over, adding that he would ensure the total rehabilitation and provision of furniture for public schools.

“More than 4.7 million pupils were sitting on bare floors to take lessons while about 400 schools have only one teacher for all classes and all pupils.

“Rather than building more classrooms and providing basic furniture in the schools, as well as hiring more teachers, the administration we took over from chose to butcher the land belonging to those schools, in some places, demolishing classrooms to create space for shops.

“Those schools that they could not sell, they closed them down and got them vandalised. The encroachment of public school lands and the conversion of these vital institutions into private business premises is an affront to our communal values and a direct assault on our commitment to public education.

“This reckless appropriation of educational spaces for commercial use is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” he said.

The Governor reaffirmed his administration’s dedication to tackling the dire situation in Kano State’s education sector.

“As your elected governor, entrusted with the solemn responsibility of steering our state towards prosperity and progress, I cannot ignore the glaring reality that confronts us in the realm of education.

“And with education being our number one priority, and believing that education is not only a public good but also the greatest asset that any people can bequeath to its upcoming generation because no people can grow beyond the quality and standard of their education system, we must, therefore, take radical but practical measures to reposition education provisioning in our state,” he said.

He also voiced alarm over the rising number of children not in school in Kano State, but he also reassured that his administration has taken proactive measures to combat this trend and ensure that more children have access to quality education.