FCTA vows to punish school principals over low student enrollment




The present administration of FCT Minister Nyesom Wike has given top emphasis to education, according to Dr. Danlami Hayyo, Secretary of the Education Secretariat, Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA). He has also called on stakeholders to work together to ensure the sector’s success.

He also threatened to impose sanctions on principals and other school officials who documented poor student enrollment in public schools.

Hayyo spoke in Abuja when he led the management team of the secretariat for the 2024 second term resumption visitation and inspection to select schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

He said that low student enrollment would be interpreted as an indication of the school administration’s failure.

He went on to say that parents would have no cause to withdraw from or refuse to enrol their children in public schools if teachers and other staff members were committed to doing their jobs well and providing high-quality education and care for pupils.

Though Hayyo expressed satisfaction with the amount of student turnout in the schools he visited, he also stated that the administration would not likely take any school that had low student turnout into consideration.

Government Science and Technical College, GSTC, Area 3, Government Secondary School, Tundun-Wada, Junior Secondary School Wuse Zone 6, Glisten Group of Schools, Jahi are a few of the schools that were visited.

He vowed to replace such school administrators saying, “I like to call the attention of the teachers to thier dedication to duties, because we’re not going to leave any stone unturned.

“If we identify any school where teachers are ready but the students are not present or the turnout of the students is low, definitely we are going to change the administration of the school. We are going to replace the leadership with a more capable hand for leadership.”

He maintained that “education is a priority to the current administration and it will ensure that it protects the sanctity of the sector.”

Prior to this, the secretary and his team made a tour of a few schools, where they were pleased with the attendance of both teachers and students on the first day of classes for the second term of the 2023–2024 academic year in both public and private schools.