By Abbas Bamalli, Katsina.
Gov. Aminu Masari of Katsina State has inaugurated the disbursement of over N4.906 billion grant to about 188 secondary schools across the 34 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the State.
In his remarks at the event on Tuesday at Abukur, Rimi LGA, the governor said that each of the schools would receive a N26.1-million grant to support vulnerable students.
He said that the grant, which was acquired through the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project, was part of the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programme.
Masari said: “From the inception of this administration in 2015, education has been receiving top priority by the state government.
“This is due to the fact that the future of the state in particular, and that of the nation in general is determined by the level of the education of the citizens.
“In this regard, we will continue to provide an enabling environment for effective teaching and learning in elementary, secondary and tertiary institutions across the state.”
The governor said that his administration was also providing an atmosphere that was conducive for the enrolment of school-age children into schools, to ensure that equal opportunity was given to all the indigenes of the state.
“In addition, the state government constructed new schools, employed additional qualified teachers as well as provided adequate learning and teaching materials.
“It also effected prompt payment of salary, ensured timely promotion of staff as at the time when due. These measures were adopted to ensure excellent outcomes for all pupils and students.
“We as well improved the working conditions for teachers,” he said.
Masari said that the AGILE project was one of the many programmes in the state championed by his administration, in collaboration with international development partners like the World Bank.
The governor said that the project also was designed to bridge the gap existing between the completion of primary school education and the transition to secondary education, especially for the adolescent girls.
He said: “When this administration took over the mantle of leadership in 2015, less than 50 per cent of pupils who finished primary school transited to secondary schools.
“But with the establishment of 68 pilot secondary schools across the state, access to secondary school education greatly improved.
“Pupils who passed out from primary schools, automatically transited to Junior Secondary Schools (JSS), which is next door to their former schools, achieving 100-per-cent transition.
“Through the AGILE project, the state government disbursed the School Improvement Grant (SIG) to all the 578 secondary Schools in the state.
“This was with different amounts, according to their size and other criteria, which included enrolment of students.”
Masari said that with the disbursement of the SIG grant, many toilets and classrooms were renovated, while water points reticulated to ensure students have access to clean water, among other things.
Earlier in his remarks, the Coordinator of the AGILE project Katsina State, Alhaji Mustapha Shehu, said that over 37,758 vulnerable households benefited from the CCT project in the state.
According to him, the beneficiaries were identified across the state through the Poverty and Micro Economic Quintile, which was done under the project in 2021
Shehu added that under the three components of the project — starting from construction and renovation — one of the conditions for the state was to construct 150 new secondary schools and recruit 2,000 teachers within two years.
“But it will interest the public to know that Masari had already recruited 1,237 teachers.
“Already 98 per cent of all the conditions for the construction of the schools had been achieved,” he said.
He said that the governor would soon be invited to launch the construction of 75 new secondary schools.
