Governor Inuwa Yahaya Uplifting Standard of Education In Gombe (Opinion)
By Oyewale Oyelola
Since his assumption of office on 29th May, 2019, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State has been taking deliberate and calculated steps to uplift the standard of education in Gombe state in line with his campaign promises.
This became necessary due to the terrifying high rate of out of school children and poor performance in basic education which place Gombe State as the 34th state in school examinations index due to inactions of previous administration in the state.
Although, the governor is aware of the worrisome conditions across all the sectors in the state, but he has decided to prioritize education to avert total collapse of the critical sector which could make or mar other developmental drives of his administration.
The governor is not leaving any stone unturned as he gets busy engaging with stakeholders to get firsthand information in order to proffer suitable solution to each problem/challenge militating against educational development in the state.
Recently, the governor lamented over the failure of some Gombe State students to meet the entry requirements into tertiary institutions of learning, thereby leaving vacant, the admission quota for the state in various institutions across the country and vowed to reverse the trend by repositioning the current educational status of the state from bottom to an appreciable stage.
However, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has commenced the process of repositioning the education sector by paying counterpart fund to access N3billion UBEC education grant to upgrade the facilities and build new classrooms in primary and secondary schools across the state.
Similarly, the state government is benefiting from USAID $13million grant to improve teacher quality to train 100 education managers and 5000 primary school teachers within a-three year period. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)’s funded education project tagged ‘Strengthening Education in Northeast’ targeting about 200 schools will also provide instructional materials to the schools.
Apart from that, Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s administration has attracted support for education sector from private organizations with N150million worth books donation and a newly constructed Science Laboratory Complex for GSSS Kaltungo among others.
Furthermore, the governor interacted with TETFUND to improve the education quality in tertiary institutions across the state. This without doubt will help build infrastructures in the institutions and thereby improving quality of products from Gombe tertiary institutions.
Likewise, the APC administration in the state will improve the budget allocation for subsequent years to address the infrastructural gap and uplift Gombe educational standard with view to making it one of the best in Northern region and Nigeria as a whole.
Affirmatively, the Governor said all over the world, Governments have the fundamental responsibility of ensuring positive development of their citizenry and this can only be achieved through provision of qualitative education.
“We must therefore take urgent decisive measures to reverse this trend by ensuring that those saddled with the task of training these children in schools are in proper frame of mind and qualified to teach”, the Governor stressed.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya emphasized that while his administration accords education the utmost priority, government will use available resources in providing infrastructural facilities, instructional materials and teaching aids to facilitate educational development.
However, the Parents Teachers’ Associations , PTAs and school based Management Committees should complement Government efforts of ensuring that henceforth products from Gombe state schools compete favorably with their peers across the country and even beyond.