The Sokoto Government has set a target of enrolling over 90,000 children into education in 2021. The state Governor, Rt Hon Aminu Waziri Tambuwal announced the plan on Wednesday at the official flag-off of BESDA enrolment drive for the year 2020/21.
BESDA is the Better Education Service Delivery Agency programme with which the state has enrolled over seventy-five thousand children into basic schools in the state last year.
The governor added that since the inception of the present administration, education has been given utmost priority through the allocation of a higher percentage in budgetary allocation.
According to him various programmes have been introduced aimed at improving educational development in the state and assured that his administration will continue to invest in education.
During the flag-off, Tambuwal took time to thank the Sultan of Sokoto, Muhammad Saad Abubakar, traditional rulers, and all of the Ulama and stakeholders for their support to government programmes in the state, particularly education.
He also commended Sultan Abubakar on his leadership of a consultative committee on education in the state and assured him of the continued support and cooperation of his administration for the betterment of education in the state.
He said the committee has tremendously impacted on the sector by renovating and constructing of schools and classrooms where necessary, as well as provided instructional materials.
Tambuwal also thanked developing partners: Unicef, NEI+ and Action Aid, among others, for their support to the enrollment drive in the state.
In his address, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Muhammadu Bello Abubakar Guiwa, said since 2016 to date 247,884 children have been enrolled in the state.
The commissioner added that, based on the schools’ census statistics in 2020/2021, the state government now has 2,065 primary schools with the 965,535 pupils comprising of 546,675 boys and 420,860 girls. In the Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), there are 285 schools with the 128,110 students comprising of 78,743 male and 49,367 females; as well as 132 Senior Secondary Schools with the 86,136 students which comprise of 54,498 male and 31,638 females.
The Commissioner explained that the statistics show that presently the state government has 1,179,781 in all the schools compared to 742,679 in 2014/2015.
In his address, Sultan Abubakar who spoke through the District Head of Binji, (Sarkin Yakin Binji), Alhaji Kabiru AbdulWahab, commended the state government for its giant stride in various sector, particularly in education. He called on all the District Heads in the state to cooperate with BESDA officials in order to achieve the desired objectives.
