The Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has, on Tuesday, September 10, 2019, donated some education relief materials to Shara community primary school, in Shara village, Sumaila Local government area, Kano State.
The materials donated included a blackboard, exercise books, pencils, cleaners, colour pencils and 50 set of school uniform, 25 sets each for boys and girls.
Donating the materials, CITAD programme officer (education), Malam Sagir Ado Abubakar, said the centre was in the village to encourage the pupils as well their parents in order not to give up in their quest for education, taking into consideration that all promises made, at the inception of the school in 2016, were not fulfilled.
Malam Abubakar said many government officials, both at local, state and federal levels were contacted concerning the construction of the school and promises were made, but none was fulfilled.
He called on government to come to the aid of the community by providing the structure, teachers and teaching materials, especially that the community has donated a plot of land for the school.
On reaching the village, residents lamented that the school was not functioning for over a year due to lack of teachers and teaching materials.
A resident, Malam Rabilu Musa, said the only teacher posted to the school, who was not healthy enough to endure all climatic conditions, was not seen for over a year as the school was in an open space, under a tree.
“He was the only teacher who taught all subjects and I think he was transferred to another place. We have not seen him for over a year now and since then the school is not running,” he said
With a population of over 2,000 people and more than 200 children of school age, Shara community is one of many rural communities in Kano state where children experience wasted childhood due to the absence of schools or difficulties in accessing them.
It was observed that the nearest primary school in the area is located in the neighbouring village of Matigwai which is more than three kilometers from Shara and separated by a rocky stream which overflows during the rains.
Residents said for many years, the absence of a school in the community, coupled with the inability of pupils to easily access education elsewhere, has left them with no choice but to recruit their children into farming and other activities to assist the community.
It is disturbing to note that none among the tens of adolescents who came to grace the donation ceremony from the community had a primary school certificate.
Chronicle observed that for children in Shara community, the boys accompany their fathers to the farms while the girls engage either in domestic chores or hawking food and other supplies within the community.
Sometime in 2016, a light of fortune flickered on Shara Village when CITAD chose the community as one of the beneficiaries of a project, mobilizing for Development (M4D), funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to encourage school enrollment in Kano.
It was learnt that in September 2016, CITAD with support from M4D conducted a campaign aimed at improving access to education through “strengthening community groups and informal institutions” in three rural local governments areas of Sumaila, Garun Malam and Dawakin Tofa.
According to a report by the centre, four wards were selected for the project in each of the three local government councils and the choice of Sitti, where Shara community belongs, was made because of its extreme remoteness.
Sumaila Local government education secretary, Alhaji Sabo Aliyu Rimi, represented by staff from SUBEB office in Sumaila, Mukhtar Uba Sumaila, said the only teacher posted to the school had left to further his education and as a result of lack of enough teachers, the board could not post his replacement.
He however encouraged the community to form their School Based Management Committee (SBMC) through which all efforts could be pursued.
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