Kaduna State Government is ready to partner with the private sector in order to improve the infrastructure of public schools, in spite of the huge budgetary allocation it has been giving to the education sector since Governor Nasir El-Rufai assumed office.
The Commissioner of Education, Dr Shehu Usman Muhammad Makarfi made this known at the formal handing over of 20 units of toilet facilities to Government Secondary School Unguwar Rimi, which were built by the Parents-Teachers Association of Zamani College on Thursday.
The Commissioner who was represented by the Director of Public Schools, Alhaji Habib Idris Alhassan, noted that lack of toilets is one of the factors that contributes to low school enrolment, especially amongst female pupils.
Alhaji Habib further said that the absence of toilets encourages open defecation which is both an environmental pollution and a health hazard.
The Director recalled that the toilets of the school collapsed about two years ago, following massive flooding and the government had been trying to repair them until the PTA of Zamani College came to the rescue.
Alhaji Habib said that the School-Based Management Committee of the school wrote to Zamani College, seeking for intervention of its PTA.
According to him, Kaduna state has been allocating huge resources to education in the capital expenditure of its yearly budget but there is still the need for a synergy between the private individuals or organisations and the government because of the neglect of the past.
The Director who thanked the Zamani College PTA for its intervention, also argued that it is the duty of SBMCs to find ways and means to help in the funding of infrastructural deficit in public schools.
Earlier, the PTA Chairman, Alhaji Buhari Hassan this is the second time that they are intervening in public schools in Kaduna state, adding that two to three years ago, they received a request for assistance from Government Secondary School Badarawa.
According to him, the school’s laboratory lacked the basic equipment and facilities and ‘’so we mobilized our members and equipped the lab and handed it over to the school.’’
Buhari further said that when the PTA received a similar letter from Government Secondary School Unguwar Rimi, ‘’the matter was tabled before the General Assembly and it was overwhelmingly endorsed.’’
‘’We them asked our members who are professionals in the building sector to evaluate the cost of building the toilets. Our team comprised an Architect, Quantity Surveyours and a Town Planner. They came up with a budget and we undertook the project as part of our Corporate Social Responsibility,’’ he narrated.
In his welcome address, the school principal, Alhaji AbdulMalik Ibrahim thanked the PTA of Zamani College for building the toilet facilities, recalling that the school authorities had earlier contributed to pay the WAEC fees of two students in the past, before the El Rufai administration abolished all kinds of fees in Kaduna state.
The principal also revealed that the students of Zamani College had earlier paid school fees of 52 students in the past.
