The World Bank Senior Education Specialist, Dr Olatunde Adekola on Thursday said that the bank would support Kaduna State Government with instructional materials and also professional development of teachers.
Adekola, who made this known after he visited the Local Government Education Authority Primary School, Lokoja Road, Rigassa, in Kaduna, noted that instructional materials and quality teachers were key to providing quality education.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that during a visit to the school in 2017, Adekola saw about 22,000 pupils of the school sitting on bare floor with no instructional materials.
He said following the development, the bank resolved to support the school with a sum of 100,000 dollars (N36 million) to provide instructional materials, chairs and other facilities needed for quality teaching and learning in the state.
Adekola said he visited the school again to see how the money had been utilised, as well as efforts by the state government so far in ensuring a conduicive learning environment.
“The last time I was here, there were no chairs, no learning materials, no books and the children in their thousands were just running up and down, with no sign they were learning anything.
“However, today, we are here, and the children are sitting in their classes without being distracted.
“The teachers are teaching, the children are learning, and the school managers are managing the school properly.’’
Adekola said he also saw some of the teachers who demonstrated that they knew what they were doing.
“I am very happy with what I have seen so far, and I give credit to Gov. Nasir El-Rufai’ for his commitment to education, in terms of improving facilities and for employing qualified teachers.
“However, it is not enough to put teachers in schools, the teachers must be trained and retrained to make them more effective and ensure that the children are actually learning.
“All teachers need to be certified by the Teachers Registration Council (TRC).
“The Work Bank would support the state in ensuring that all public school teachers are certified by TRC,” he said.
Malam Dahuru Anchau, the Director, Public Schools, Kano State Ministry of Education, Science and Technology thanked the World Bank for the support, saying it would augment government efforts in increasing access to quality education.
He said the N36 million World Bank support was used to procure books, writing materials, chairs and other needed instructional materials for the school.
“I am very happy that the World Bank official has seen changes from his last visit and I equally thanked the bank for promising to further support us with more instructional materials and teacher professional development.”
The Head Teacher of the school, Hajiya Aminatu Ali, also commended the state government and the World Bank for supporting the school.
Ali appealed for more support, saying that the population of the school had increased from 29,510 to 34,870.
According to her, primary one class alone has a population of 4,906 and more are still being enrolled.
NAN reports that the state government on Wednesday commenced the disbursement of N3.3 billion scholarship/school development grant to female teachers and girls as well as other beneficiaries.
The amount is part of the 21,568 million dollars World Bank grant being disbursed under the Global Partnership for Education/Nigerian Partnership for Education Project. (NAN)
