Dr. Makoda, Kano state Commissioner of Education

By Maduabuchi Nmeribeh/Kano

Some parents in Kano sabotage the government’s effort to the development of basic education in Kano, as they sell free uniforms donated to their children by the state government just to feed.

The state Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Ali Haruna Makoda, who disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists, decried that ignorance and abject poverty on the part of some parents are sabotaging the state government’s effort to ensure zero out-of-school children in the state.

Our Correspondent reports that apart from ensuring free and compulsory education for primary school pupils and secondary school students,  the state government provide free uniforms, books, biros, pencils and other instructional materials to school children in the state.

“Can you imagine parents selling the uniform of their children provided by the State Government, in order to eat?”  Makoda lamented.

He revealed that,  “the situation is so bad that some parents in one of the Local Government Areas of the state were caught selling the uniforms of their children provided by the State government.”

According to him, the uniforms were part of the more than 800,000 uniforms distributed to primary schools in the state, under the state government’s State of Emergency declared in the education sector.

Makoda also lamented that many of the parents had withdrawn their children from school and drafted them to the farm, adding that the inglorious trend had significantly contributed to the high number of out-of-school children roaming the streets of the state capital.

Makoda further stated that the government has stepped up its efforts to address the growing decay in the state’s education sector.

According to him,  Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf’s administration inherited  “a failed and decayed education system,” adding that the state government is taking adequate steps to improve infrastructure, personnel quality and access to education.

Such steps, he said, include a significant increase in the budgetary allocation to the education sector from 29.75 per cent in the 2024 financial year to 31.5 per cent in the 2025 fiscal year.

He recalled that recently,  determined to ensure a conducive and effective learning and teaching atmosphere, Kano State Government procured and distributed 120,000 cartons of chalk to public schools across the state.

Makoda said the provision of the items was in line with the present administration’s commitment to improving teaching and learning in public schools to achieve quality education.

He said Governor Abba Kabir Yusuf accords utmost priority to the education sector, adding that the Governor would continue to initiate and implement policies targeted towards the provision of quality education in the state.

Makoda recalled that in October 2023, Governor Yusuf had launched the distribution of instructional materials worth billions of Naira to public schools across the 44 Local Government Areas of the state, including text books,  exercise books, white boards, white markers, bags, school sandals and uniforms among others to improve learning and teaching in the public schools.

” So, what the present administration is doing to education is a clear demonstration of its commitment to overhaul the sector and ensure that it remains its first priority through the implementation of sound educational policies,” he added.