By Habibu Harisu
The Katsina State Education Trust Fund (KETF) has commenced community mobilisation across the 34 local government areas of the state to seek support for ongoing efforts to raise education standard in public schools.
Chairman of the Fund’s Education Committee, Alhaji Muhammadu Dikko, said the exercise was also to mobilize students to access various educational opportunities in the country.
Dikko said at an interactive session with education stakeholders in Malumfashi on Thursday, that the effort would complement government to raise standards in view of current pathetic situation with regards to students performance.
“ Katsina is famous in the area of education in terms of enrolment, quality graduates and distinctive performance across all the disciplines in the country.
“ The sudden decline in educational standards and poor quality of students’ performance led to the establishment of the funds aimed at averting the trend,’’ he said.
The chairman said that the mobilisation targeted teachers, parents, government, traditional and community leaders, for them to actively contribute towards making the state great again in the area of education.
According to him, all suggestions, comments and resolutions arrived at in the course of the discussion would compiled and forwarded to relevant authorities for implementation.
According to him, the KETF would also within its resources, continue to render support where necessary.
The Executive Secretary of the Fund, Shehu Mamman, disclosed that the organisation had intervened in various ways to help raise students’ performance.
Mamman said the body had organised extra lessons for senior secondary school students preparing for their final year examinations, and sponsored special coaching programmes for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board Examination (JAMB) candidates.
The official added that the Fund had awarded scholarship to students in tertiary institutions, settled SSCE fees for indigent candidates, provided furniture and teaching aids.
He said that the KETF had also offered special assistance to community schools and the special schools for the deaf and blind in the state.
In his separate remarks, Malumfashi Local Education Authority Secretary, Shawai Alhassan, urged the committee to look at ways of supporting the recruitment of more qualified teachers for primary schools.
Also, the local Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Bature Abdulaziz, advised the Fund to make special provisions for teaching aids in schools, saying it would help in imparting quality knowledge to pupils.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the event was attended by traditional rulers, parent teachers associations, community groups, youth associations and others in the area.
