Katsina State Government said it has developed adequate measures aimed at improving the security in all public schools across vulnerable communities in the State.
The State Commissioner of Science and Technology, Mustapha Kanti Bello, disclosed this on Sunday at the Graduation Ceremony of the 2021 and 2022 classes of Damale Schools, Katsina held at the Katsina Local Government Service Commission.
According to the Commissioner, the State Government has deployed security vigilantes in all the schools and equipped them with all the facilities they required to operate.
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Impressed with the students’ capacity to develop online applications such as online shopping, online voting, and online ambulance, the commissioner expressed optimism that Bilgate will soon come to Katsina State and invest.
He recalled that education is one of the key priorities of the current state administration with the State Government he said is doing its possible best to improve the sector in the recruitment of competent and qualified teachers, renovation of schools, and giving allowances to stakeholders on time.
On his part, the special adviser to the Governor on empowerment and special interventions, Abdulkadir Mamman Nasir announced that the gave update on the school feeding program in the State which he said a total of 834 thousand 957 pupils are being fed every school day.
He noted that the number of food vendors was also boosted from 2,600 to 10,547 women covering the 2,777 primary schools across twelve thousand classrooms.
He added that as a result of the school feeding program, half a million children have been encouraged and their morale boosted and their parents assisted to go back to school where the number of out-of-school children had reduced drastically.
“The overall micro-economic impact attached to the school feeding program is unimaginable.
“The school feeding program injects N54 million into the Katsina Market every day and one billion, one hundred and sixty-seven million is being spent every month to feed the pupils”. He stated.
In the meantime, the Damale Schools proprietor, Hajiya Hauwa Samaila Damale said the schools are out to shape the lives of younger ones so that they could come prepared for the life ahead.
The schools which were established in the last 10 years had brought a difference from the normal schools where the students are provided with skills acquisition that will be a backup for the education they receive for them not to rely on the government for a civil service job.
“The skills we concentrate on include, poultry and fish farming, shoe and bag making as well as ICT.
“Day schools have challenges that we face from parents to the society. We find out that, the challenges of running a day school are enormous but we make a lot of progress.
“The day school system has a lot of challenges because parents overwork the children with a lot of engagements which at the end of the day the school work suffers a lot.
“We are appealing to parents to look into the issue and have a schedule for their children to have at least 30 minutes break every day. Some parents don’t pay school fees after we keep on sending reminders to them. They should please note that we have salaries to pay our staff and to cover other commitments”. She added.
In her remarks, the wife of the State Governor, Hajiya Hadiza Aminu Masari also called on parents to give helping hands in the proper upbringing of their children as the society is faced with a lot of challenges towards the upbringing of children taking into consideration the children of nowadays behave.
The highlight of the occasion was the presentation of prizes and awards to the best students in different categories as well as to parents, guardians, and staff of the schools.
