Governor Uba Sani of Kaduna has vowed to reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state.
Mr Sani made the avowal while declaring open the Reaching Out-Of-School Children, ROOSC, start-up workshop on Monday in Kaduna.
According to him, the large number of out-of-school children, including those with disabilities, is a significant challenge to inclusive development.
He listed what his administration has been doing to tackle the problem.
“We set out to tackle the key challenges in the educational sector in Kaduna State in six ways: improving access, building and rehabilitating education infrastructure to ensure conducive learning environments, building the capacity of teachers, harnessing the capacity of ICT to improve access, quality, and management of education, prioritising girl-child education, and strengthening security in the state,’’ he added.
Mr Sani explained that his administration has built 62 new secondary schools, comprising 39 junior and 23 senior secondary schools, across the three senatorial zones to cater to the growing educational needs of the state.
“Recognising the continued demand for quality education, approval has been given for the construction of an additional 50 secondary schools across the state. The procurement process for this ambitious project is currently in its advanced stages.
“Upon completion, these new schools are expected to enrol over 100,000 students, further solidifying Kaduna State’s commitment to providing inclusive and accessible education for all.
“The administration has also constructed 2,326 new classrooms, renovated 707 classrooms, supplied 30,742 two-seater pupils’ furniture, provided 3,704 teachers furniture, and constructed 918 VIP cubicle toilets and 51 hand pump boreholes in schools across the state,” he said.
The governor also said that 2,000 qualified teachers have been recruited, awaiting deployment to these newly completed schools, to ensure effective teaching and learning.
Other projects included the distribution of 1,482,816 instructional materials, training of over 26,000 teachers, head teachers, and school support officers on basic computer skills, classroom management, literacy and numeracy skills, and school management information systems.
He added the state experienced significant improvement in the 2023 SSCE examination conducted by NECO.
