Dr. Jamila Dahiru, the Bauchi State Commissioner of Education, voiced her dissatisfaction on Wednesday regarding the low attendance of secondary school students, particularly those in SS3, two weeks after the commencement of the third term academic activities.
During her inspection and monitoring visits to several schools within Bauchi metropolis, the Commissioner expressed concern over the trend and cautioned that the government might cease payment of fees for external examinations for SS3 students if the issue of truancy persisted.
The Commissioner was furious with the low level of resumption of the SS3 students in some schools, recounting how she met not up to 20 per cent of the SS3 students who were around when she visited a particular school.
According to her, “We just realized that most of these students, after being taught from JSS1 to SS3 and with Gov. Bala Mohammed paying for their external exams, and as soon as they were done with their mock exams, they left school and won’t return until the first day of their external exams.”
Dahiru added that, “It is sad to acknowledge that we are not responsible as parents because I want to believe that they have parents who are seeing them attending schools simply because they are getting ready to just write their external examinations.”
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“We want to make them come back to class, we want to emphasize that we are investing in the right people because it is just telling us that it is the government that bothers about their education while they don’t care and probably their parents that are allowing them to stay at home also don’t care,” She said.
She continued, “If they don’t care, we want to channel our energy to those that care. That is why I gave a directive that each and every child that we are sponsoring must be in school throughout this term before they commence their examination.
“If they don’t want to come to prepare so that they can pass with ease, then we should give those that are ready by revoking theirs and that’s why we are emphasising that the parents are responsible,” she said.
Dahiru also warned Teachers across the state to be wary of truancy or lateness to school, adding that such misconduct would not be further tolerated and would be met with serious sanctions.
She also directed that no Teachers should be allowed to gain entrance into any school premises by 9 am, warning that teachers must be on the ground by 7:30 am.
It could be recalled that Gov. Bala Mohammed of Bauchi state in February 2024, released a sum of N396.9 million to pay for the 2023/2024 external examinations of 14,170 students in the public schools.
The external examinations paid for included the West African Examination Council (WAEC), the National Examination Council (NECO), the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies (NBAIS) and the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
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