DAMATURU (Sundiata Scholar) – Yobe Government on Wednesday pledged its’ commitment to safe and accessible schools across the state.The Commissioner for Secondary School Education,
Prof. Abba Adam, stated this at a meeting to validate a review on National Policy on Safety, Security and Violence-Free Schools in Damaturu. reports that the meeting was facilitated by a non-governmental organization – North East Youths Initiative For Development (NEYIF) and sponsored by the United states Agency for International Development (USAID).
Adam, who was represented by the ministry’s Director, Personnel Management, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris, noted that teaching and learning could not be possible under insecurity.
He further said substantial amount of funds were allocated to projects and programmes on safe schools initiative in the ministry’s 2024 budget.In his remarks, the Executive Director of NEYIF, Mr Dauda Mohammed, said the review would address some gaps in the policy at the national level.“
The national policy on safe school did not take into consideration the non-formal education such as the Almajiri and madarasas, and other areas of concern.“
We, therefore, invited critical stakeholders for two week’s deliberation on this all-important issue to validate the review of the policy document and present same to the state ministry of education for adoption,” he said.
Mohammed said the work plan to be developed at the meeting would recommend the number of security personnel to be deployed at each school and their mode of operation.“We will also advocate to government to find suitable place for College of Agriculture, Buni Yadi, now relocated to Damaturu for safety concerns.“
We are also hoping that the state and Federal Government would also find a means of establishing another Federal Government College (FGC) in Damaturu to replace FGC Buni Yadi, which was shut down due to insecurity.“
This will go a long way in decongesting other FGC’s in the North-East, where the students were distributed to,” he added.(NAN)