The Borno State Government has discovered that only five out of 100 school-children can read, which indicates that 95% of them cannot read. A development the state says is not acceptable.
The discovery was made after Mr. Babagana Zulum, the state governor visited Malam-Fatori Primary School located at the Abadam Local Government Area of the state on Thursday.
During his visit to the school, the governor decided to test the Junior Secondary Students’ ability in reading. He found that out of the 100 students subjected to the test, only five can read.
In a statement that was released by the state government after the visit, the governor said he is worried about the poor quality of education at the local government level.
The governor, however, disclosed that out of the 224 teachers in the local government that the state pays, only six were seen at the duty post, while all of them do not have teaching qualifications. A development, the state government says is unacceptable.
Zulum’s discovery corroborates the poor quality of education in Northeast Nigeria. For instance, the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEC) uncovered that the primary six pupils in Bauchi State cannot write 1-10 in figures, a discovery made during their official visit to some schools in the state.
Also, read Bauchi Primary 6 Pupils Can’t Write 1-10 in Figure UBEC Uncovers
Mr. Abubakar Surunbai Ph.D., chairman of Bauchi State Universal Basic Education Board visited some of the primary schools in the state in 2021. And, during the visit, Surunbai, went into some of the classrooms to interact with the pupils.
At the interaction, he randomly picked some pupils and asked them to spell their names, a task many of them failed.
To further prove the poor quality of education in the state, the SUBED chairman called out some of the pupils to write 1 to 10 in a figure on the blackboard. A task they all failed.
Mallam Babban Mutum Primary School Shekal recorded the worst experience in all the schools visited.
This is even as many prominent persons from Bauchi state, including Mr. Salisu Matori, a Nigerian Senator had his primary education in the school.
About 15 children that were called out to write 1 to 10 in figure failed the exercise, an action that made the SUBED chairman very unconformable, calling for a state of emergency in the education sector in Bauchi state.
Apart from the pupil’s inability to read and write, there are no chairs for them to sit and learn, many were seen sitting on the floor.
A development the SUBEB chairman promised to engage the state government to provide chairs and a conducive learning environment for the pupils.