Bauchi State Commissioner of Education, Dr Jamila Muhammad Dahiru has stressed that one issue that has been a front-burner for the Ministry is that of the out-of-school children menace.
The Commissioner while speaking at a stakeholders meeting said “The figures being peddled by many sources as reflection of our situation, have been worrisome and kept us on our toes (on how we can fight the menace).”
She, however, assured that “We have been working round the clock to find out why and how to handle the situation and of course including the facts on alleged figures especially by UNICEF and its counterparts.”
The Commissioner added “And since the introduction and implementation of new policies and initiatives by the Executive Governor, Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed the story is gradually changing positively.”
The interventions according to her include among many other efforts- “the launching of back to school campaign as championed by our traditional institution and chaired by the Emir of Bauchi HRH Alhaji Dr Rilwanu Suleiman Adamu, sponsorship of sensitization and advocacy campaigns conducted by His Excellency and supported by several stakeholders (Related Educational projects and partners), we have been able to roll back more than 500,000 out-of-school-children in Bauchi to schools in 2 years.”
“But like I said, the issue of our educational data is one which the Executive Governor takes very seriously, hence, the government is working on many strategies including the establishment of one of its kind, Bauchi State Bureau of Statistics under the Ministry of our Finest Commissioner, Planning Budget & Multilateral Coordination,” she added.
Jamila Dahiru stated, “A sneak peek at our efforts at the Ministry of Education level is also when on 12th of August, we championed a coordination meeting with Bauchi state Islamic Leaders/Council of Ulamas and various associations of Islamic teachers and preachers on strategies to include Almajiris in the Annual School Census (ASC) and integrate them into post-literacy education programs.”
The Commissioner added that “Last week Thursday 29th August, the Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board (BASUBEB), in collaboration with UNICEF, Bauchi Field Office, also organized a one-day step-down meeting focused on a standardized approach to data analysis and reporting on out-of-school children in Bauchi State.”
She announced that the meetings brought together various agencies and stakeholders in the education sector and it came to terms on what best works for the Bauchi state on the issue of accurate and unbiased data collection to address fake out-of-school-children data reportage in the state.
According to her, “In both meetings, amazing solutions were proffered and we can’t wait to see the results of their implementations. These among many are also our ongoing efforts under the amiable leadership of His Excellency Senator Bala Abdulkadir Mohammed, to enhance access and quality education in Bauchi State.”
