Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal Tuesday flagged off an enrollment program
which seeks to admit one million, two hundred and sixty eight thousand
(1,268,000) new pupils into primary and junior secondary schools across the
state.
The ambitious program, flagged off at Bodinga LGA of the state, seeks to
enhance access to all eligible children to universal basic education and
promote retention, completion and transition of students from basic and
secondary levels to tertiary institutions in the state.
Speaking at the event, Tambuwal said government will strenghten the
enrollment drive to ensure that it achieved its objectives.
He said parents will be supported with a conditional cash transfer
programmes by the government to ensure they allow their children attend
classes.
To ensure further success, the government said it will deploy technology
for biometric data capture of those enrolled in order to keep trackof their
school attendance and performance, and at the same time take steps to
address constraints and challenges that may arise while they are in schools.
In his remarks, UNICEF’s Chief Field Officer in Sokoto, Mohammad Mohiuddin,
said the enrolment campaign could not have come at a time considering the
fact that Sokoto has the highest number of primary school children that are
out of school in the country most of who are girls.
He however said that the state is currently one of the five states in the
North that is benefiting from UK and US governments’ funded Girls Education
Progect phase 3.
In his remarks, the state commissioner for baic and secondary education,
Dr. Muhammad Jabbi Kilgoresaid the theme for the enrolment drive is ‘Catch
them early, keep them long.’
He said the campaign will be aggressively conducted to massively
regiserchildren with special focus on girl child with a view to lay solid
foundation on gender balance in schools.
CAPTION: Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal enrolling little Aishatu into
primary One, at Bodinga LGA of Sokoto State.
Governor Aminu Waziri Tambuwal, with UNICEF Chief of Field Office in
Sokoto, Mohammad Mohiuddin, with five children newly-enrolled into primary
one in Sokoto.