Kwaya Kusar Local Government Area of Borno has organised its maiden education summit in the council aimed at tackling education challenges while boosting school enrolment in line with the Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum’s vision for the state.
Dr Salihu Ibrahim, the Education Secretary of the council, stated this in Kwaya Kusar town in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday.
Ibrahim said the initiative was to sustain ongoing efforts by the state government targeted towards improving the quality of teaching as well as enhancing service delivery in Kwaya Kusar schools.
He stated that with the efforts of the Borno government in boosting school enrolment, the best way to complement such effort was to improve the quality of teaching and embark on massive school enrolment drive; hence the summit.
According to him, the summit which was conducted on August 31 had 100 participants in attendance, comprising 75 Head Teachers with their SBMCs Chairmen, 11 Supervisors and 14 Administrative staff.
“We conducted the first education summit in Kwaya Kusar to transform the education sector in the council in line with the agenda of the state government.
“If the state government under Gov Zulum is doing a lot to boost school enrolment, we must complement at the local government level to ensure our pupils get the best and to ensure that our teachers are up-to-date with modern pedagogical knowledge.
“This is why we organised the first education summit in the council to improve teaching and service delivery generally, because the future of Kwaya Kusar children is important to us.
“We also distributed food items to support teachers and other participants and to send the message that we care about their welfare and going forward, we will make subsequent summit bigger and better,” he said.
Ibrahim commended Zulum for laying a good foundation for the education sector in the state while boosting the morale of teachers through improved remuneration and other incentives.
He further commended Hon. Dahiru Hamma, the chairman of Kwaya Kusar LGA for supporting ongoing efforts to domestic the state government’s reforms in the education sector at the council level.
Ibrahim said under the Zulum administration, primary school teachers were earning from N70,000 to N150,000, saying “they have been motivated enough to give their best.”
According to him, with the provision of free school materials for pupils and a good salary structure for teachers, there is no reason for pupils to be out of school and for teachers not to give their best.
Ibrahim urged parents whose children were yet to begin school to enrol their children, confirming that the council has received all the necessary materials from the state government for onward distribution to pupils.
“For parents, just come with your children; we will enrol them, give them uniforms, books, bags and other items for free; so no financial burden on them,” he said.
The education secretary said that measures have been put in place to ensure that no child roams the street during school hours.