Tambuwal moves to criminalise failure to enrol children in schools

By Abdallah el-Kurebe

‎If the bill before the Sokoto state House of Assembly is passed, any parent who refuses to send his child to school would be liable and face criminal charges.

‎Governor Aminu Tambuwal made this known in Sokoto on Monday while addressing religious, traditional and political leaders from 11 local government areas of the state who paid him a sallah visit at Presidential Lodge.

According to him, ‎the policy, “considered both radical and revolutionary and aimed at boosting school enrolment and providing quality education to every child as required by local and international laws,” becomes necessary in view of the high percentage of parents who deliberately frustrate government efforts to educate their children.

The governor explained that as part of measures to enhance implementation of the new policy, government would build and equip 240 primary and tertiary healthcare centres in the three senatorial zones of the state.

He further said that the state government had made adequate arrangement to cater for the educational needs of its citizens, adding that anyone caught flouting the new regulation would not be spared.

Tambuwal noted that the founders of Sokoto Caliphate made their marks in areas of education and scholarship, “as such, there is no excuse if their successors failed to provide at least basic education to the future generation.

“If the state gets its education priorities right, many ills of the society will be taken care of,” he stressed.

Appealing to his visitors to suppo‎rt the new initiative, Tambuwal said vocational training centres and employment opportunities would be created to cater for the youths and other vulnerable members of the society.