In 2022, for example, the Kano State Government budgeted N51.6bn for the sector, representing 26 per cent of the total budget of N196bn. This year, out of the N268bn budget, the government allocated N62bn to the sector, representing 27 per cent.
Doguwa said the figure was arrived at following the assessment of the education sector conducted by his ministry on the directives of the Governor Abba Yusuf. This he said was in response to the poor state of public schools infrastructure and furniture in the state. The poor state of education occasioned by bad governance and corruption leading to the diversion of yearly budgetary allocation to fund education is said to be at the core of the problems facing education in the country.
Some of the teachers who spoke with one of our correspondents in Bauchi on the condition of anonymity decried the lack of training, overcrowded classrooms and poor welfare, saying these are some of the factors contributing to the low morale among teachers, especially those who work in rural areas. So far, 1,000 teachers have received training, but many across the 155 senior secondary schools and many others in the primary level have not received any form of training in recent years. Classroom blocks in most rural communities also remain a luxury.
“From our monitoring, teachers that were hitherto not going to school started going to school before the holidays. In most cases, you will find teachers sitting under the trees, doing nothing during school hours. So, monitoring to ensure compliance is very important. The state of emergency in the education sector should be total and address the issue of infrastructure decay in public schools.
The reports from Borno State further indicated that apart from massive educational infrastructure destruction, the insurgents forced between 60,000 and 70,000 pupils out of school.