Kano’s education policy leaves tales of woe

To ameliorate the effect of poverty on the educational progress of Kano school children, the Kano State Government introduced a sponsorship scheme to pay for the senior secondary school certificate examination of students that secure at least five credits in a qualifying examination.

But the government’s recent decision to change the criteria to seven credits had placed some students and parents in a disadvantaged position, pitting them against the government. Daily Trust examines the policy and the issues that trail it.

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Since the release of the results of qualifying exams for government’s scholarship in Kano, there have been bitter tales and divergent views among parents and students.

Against the former requirement of five credits, the state government now considers only students with seven credits, including Mathematics and English Language, to be qualified for sponsorship.

A source at the state Ministry of Education said that the state government, during an Executive Council meeting, decided to change the requirement from five credits to seven because of a reason they are yet to reveal.

The state government has since announced the release of N314.4 million for the sponsorship of 26,242 selected candidates, who are said to have met the requirement for the 2021 National Examination Council (NECO) and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies examinations.

The commissioner for information in the state,  Muhammad Garba, said the approval followed a recommendation by the award committee, which assessed the performance of candidates.

Garba pointed out that based on the selection criteria, the huge number of candidates, as well as the total expenditure involved, only candidates with seven to nine credits, including English and Mathematics, were considered for sponsorship.

He also said candidates from community and voluntary schools were excluded from the sponsorship to ease the burden on government and encourage community participation in the education of children.

It was gathered that 90 per cent of students who sat for the qualifying exams failed or could not meet the new requirement for the scholarship.

Many students were said to have scored more than seven credits but could not make either Mathematics or English Language.

It was gathered that the state government further approved N130 million to pay for NECO for 10,400 indigent students across the 44 local governments, who could not pass the qualifying exams.

Daily Trust learnt that the qualifying exam results were released few days before the deadline of NECO registration, a situation that left many students in fear of possibly missing out this year. The qualifying examination was introduced over a decade ago. Each candidate is expected to pay between N12,000 and N13,000 for registration.

Policy will increase number of dropouts – Experts

Speaking on the new requirement, experts in the education sector explained that the failure recorded in the last qualifying examination was as a result of inadequate teachers and lack of educational materials in government-owned schools.

Others are, however, of the view that the Kano State Government only considered the economic situation in the country and selected the number it could sponsor.

“Honestly, we have many students and government cannot afford to pay for all of them, so it just decided to sample the number it could afford. But how is it that out of 500, only 10 or so passed the exam in a school? This is not possible,” a former teacher, Mallam Bashir Mamman said.

Another retired teacher who pleaded anonymity was worried that many of the students who failed the exam may not continue with their studies if they were not able to write the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) this year. He said that as a result, the problem would add to the number of dropouts in the state, which is not good for the future of the North as a region.

“Such cases usually discourage students from continuing with their studies. Many of those that failed the exam didn’t have money to pay for themselves. And instead of repeating the exam, they would rather abandon the school because they have no certainty in the following year,” he said.

Change of requirement uncalled for – Parents

Similarly, some parents told Daily Trust that the decision by the state government to change the qualifying requirement was uncalled for, especially looking at the present situation in the country.

Many of them said the failure of the state government to announce the new requirement of credits earlier also added to the problem. They said many of them could not afford to pay for their children at such a short notice.

This is even as the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) in the state said it tried its best to see that government retained the five credits requirement as considered in the universities, but its efforts were not successful.

Speaking through its secretary, Aminu Tafida, the association said it advised the government to consider the situation in the country and revert to the old requirement so that students who could not pay for themselves would be assisted.

“We decided to sacrifice our money to train the students. The education percentage allocated from the state and local governments should be used in paying for the exams. The money donated by non-governmental organisations should also be directed towards paying for them, especially the girls,” he said.

He said another challenge was lack of experienced and adequate Mathematics and English teachers in the schools, which also contributes to the mass failure. He added that many of the students in government schools didn’t have reading materials that would help in their studies.

He called on the government to consider discussing with the PTA before deciding on issues that have to do with education, adding that they were only engaged during the release of the qualifying exam results.

“We were only engaged at the release of the qualifying results. We are the only body that is opposing the new policy of seven credits out of over 20 bodies. This is because the rest are all from the government side,” he added.

All hope is lost, says student

Daily Trust gathered that the development is already making some students to give up on writing the NECO examinations.

A student, Usama Sa’adu, said he had already given up on writing the NECO exams since he did not have the means to pay for it.

“Honestly, my father cannot pay for me and I don’t have the means to pay for myself. I don’t know what to do now. All I know is that if I don’t write this exam I will not go back to school because I don’t know if I would still win next year.

“There is no certainty. I say this because the person who sat next to me is not always coming to school, but he passed the exam. He only comes once or twice a week, while I always attend school. I never miss classes, but he passed while I failed,” he complained.

A widow and mother of two girls, Aisha Umar, said that for the second time, her children failed the qualifying exam, adding that she cannot afford to pay for them.

She said that last year she encouraged the girls to repeat their classes, hoping that they would pass the exam this year, but the case is the same.

“Their father died four years ago and I want them to study. When they failed last year, I thought it would be possible to pass this time around. The only thing is for them to tell me that we have a few days to pay, else they will repeat. They are growing bigger and I want them to finish secondary school before they marry,” she said.

Reacting, the public relations officer of the Kano State Senior Secondary Schools Management Board (KSSSMB), Ibrahim Baba, said the decision to change the requirement from five to seven credits was made by the State Executive Council prior to the release of the results, adding that the Ministry of Education should be contacted for further explanation.

Efforts to get a reaction from the state government was not successful as several calls to the Commissioner for Education, Muhammad Sanusi Kiru, were not answered at the time of filing this report.

Recently, a 20-year-old youth in Kano state recently set himself ablaze after all efforts to raise money to pay for his Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE) organised by the National Examination Council (NECO).

The incidence happened last week Tuesday in in Garo town in Kabo Local Government Area of the state.

The deceased youth, Danladi Shu’aib had written the exams three times but failed in all three attempts. Ironically, because he couldn’t raise the money to register for this year’s exam took his life.

For his love to further his studies, Danladi had in the past threatened to take his life, if he failed to write the exams. Unfortunately, “no one took his threat seriously,” a neighbor said.

Shu’aib was later rushed to a hospital after setting himself ablaze, but died two days later.

Similarly, another resident of the area and a neighbour of the deceased family who pleaded anonymity, said, “Danladi worked as a mechanic and after getting his pay for that day, bought fuel which he used to set himself ablaze in his room.”

Daily Trust learnt that the late Shu’aib was able to raise half of the amount for registration of the exam, but gave up when he couldn’t raise the complete amount.

Residents have accused a top politician in the area who promised to pay the exams fees for all the students this year, but failed to fulfill it, thereby leaving many in limbo.