Jigawa established 115 secondary schools in 6 years — Commissioner

According to PUNCH, the Jigawa Government said it established 85 junior and 30 senior secondary schools in the last six years.
The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Haruna Wakili, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the state had 336 junior and 135 senior secondary schools in existence before the inception of the
current government.
This brings the number of junior and senior secondary schools in the state to 421 and 165 respectively.
Wakili said that the step was taken to address the high rate of illiteracy among the people.
He said the schools were established across the 27 local government areas of the state.
According to him, the new schools will expand access to education and bring it to the door steps of citizens.
“We are determined to make our public schools, modern ones that will stand the test of time in terms of quality.
“The current government’s commitment will take the state to the next level where more than 70 per cent of our population will be educated.”
The commissioner said the new schools were furnished with necessary equipment for environment conducive for learning.
He stated that the administration introduced free education for all girls to tackle illiteracy among them.
According to him, the education of female students is now free from primary to tertiary level since the inception of the current government.
He said apart from the administration’s effort to lay strong foundation in basic education, the government had also established a state university which would begin academic session by January
2014.
Alhaji Sani Abdullahi, the Executive Chairman of the State Universal Education Board , said that primary schools in the state have increased to 1,918.
Abdullahi said that the continuous expansion was to enable the citizens to acquire basic education in the state.
He lauded Gov. Sule Lamido’s commitment to fight illiteracy.
He said before the inception of the government, only 20 per cent of primary school teachers were qualified.
Abdullahi said the situation had increased to 67 per cent in the last six years while that of junior secondary schools was now 84 per cent.