Governor Uba Sani, Please Save Primary Education -By Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua

Primary education is the first stage of formal education, it lays the foundation for future learning and plays a critical role in shaping a child’s cognitive, emotional and social development. A strong foundation in primary education sets the stage for future academic achievements. A well-educated population contributes to a country’s economic growth and competitiveness. It is however sad to note, primary education in Kaduna state is facing serious challenges ranging from shortage of manpower, lack of motivation to infrastructural deficit. What crippled the development of primary education in the state is the consequences of El-rufai’s irrational decisions to axe over 25000 primary school teachers in 2017.It can be recalled, the administration of Malam Nasiru Ahmed Elrufai, in a bid to reform education sector and flush what it described as unqualified teachers, conducted examination leading to disqualify of thousands teachers. Elrufai decision came after education experts had advised him to consider training and retraining of those teachers.

The sacking of thousands teachers had created a huge man power gap and negatively affected primary school education in the state. Unfortunately, ,subsequent recruitment by the state government failed to address the personal shortage. Many schools that had enough teaching staff prior to El-rufai’s destructive policy were forced to manage inadequate teachers. For instance, there were hundred of school with high enrollment that can hardly parade 5 staff. Even some of the recruited teachers had to abandon their duties post citing poor condition of service by the last administration. With the new Sherrif in town, one had expected governor Uba Sani to have reviewed some of the El-rufai’s policy that hamper the development of primary education and formulate new ones.

No doubt, primary schools in Kaduna State are gasping and need urgent oxygen to survive. The schools are baffling with shortage of teaching staff. A visit to rural schools will reveal the dire condition of primary education which demand an expedient action. While some education funded NGOs like BESDA and AGILE have come to the aid of our nearly collapsing primary education through building of modern classes to bridge infrastructural facilities and give primary education a facelift, it is high time state government did its own bid. During 2025 budget presentation, governor Uba Sani, stated that his government has set aside,26.14% of the budget to education sector. This is a cheering news. We passionately appeal to the governor to fix the multi-facet problems bedevil primary education in the state. This can be achieved through scale up recruitment. There is the need for government to recruit more teachers as many schools are without the needed teachers. Government should also pay serious attention to the training of teachers. This will help them to acquire new teaching method and innovation. It will also go along ways towards assisting them to excel in their profession. Moreover, primary school teachers hardly receive their salary on time. With excruciating cost of living in the country, starving teachers will not have full attention to their teaching jobs let alone passing knowledge to the younger ones. Besides timely payment of their salary, government should consider approving rural allowance to teachers posted to rural areas. This will spur them to give their best.

The development of other stages of education depends largely on primary education. It is the foundation upon which other stages are built. By addressing the challenges and leveraging innovation, governor Uba Sani can improve the quality and accessibility of primary education which will ultimately empower future generations to succeed in the state.

Ibrahim Mustapha Pambegua, Kaduna State. 08169056963.