On Education in Kaduna State
Background
• APC Kaduna Restoration Programme, the manifesto on which the APC campaigned in Kaduna, made Education a priority in recognition of the parlous state of the schools, their facilities and teacher quality;
• The manifesto therefore promised to expand access to Education and work to improve facilities to ensure that learning takes place in a decent environment;
• In April 2015, the APC Transition Committee identified:
- 4,254 government-owned primary schools, with enrolment of 1.1m pupils, many without water, toilets, roofs or furniture
- 36,621 primary school teachers, many of whom an ESSPIN survey indicated were unqualified and with 40% having fake certification
- 529 government-owned secondary schools, with 267,659 pupils and 9,908 teachers
• In June 2015, in Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s first week in office, he took briefings from all Ministries and Agencies. At the briefing, the then SUBEB chairman, Dare Akawu, told the governor that at least 50% of school pupils sit on floors because of the absence of furniture. This means that previous governments that received allocations based on $100 oil did not bother about schools;
• In response, Malam El-Rufai declared a state of emergency in Education to begin the rehabilitation of public schools, providing water, toilets, roofs, windows, doors and furniture;
• Contracts to rehabilitate schools and to provide furniture were awarded. The first phase included the rehabilitation of 10% of the schools. The cost of rehabilitating just 10% of the schools indicated that at least N60bn will be required to fix just the primary schools.
• But the capital spending in Kaduna State had never approached that figure until the El-Rufai government achieved record capital expenditure in 2016.
• Malam El-Rufai compiled and took an album of photographs showing the dilapidation of schools, and shared it with development partners, making it clear that the state needed resources to fix the issue. This is how the Economic Transformation discussions with the World Bank started. On 20th June 2017, the World Bank approved Kaduna State’s application for USD 350m; disbursement is awaiting National Assembly approval.
• It was obvious that Education required massive cash injection, which could be best provided by development partners.
• It also became apparent that, given population trends, what was needed was beyond a programme of school rehabilitation. Kaduna State needs to rebuild its schools to provide enough classrooms, offices for teachers and other facilities.
• In April 2015, the APC Transition Committee identified:
- 4,254 government-owned primary schools, with enrolment of 1.1m pupils, many without water, toilets, roofs or furniture
- 36,621 primary school teachers, many of whom an ESSPIN survey indicated were unqualified and with 40% having fake certification
- 529 government-owned secondary schools, with 267,659 pupils and 9,908 teachers
• In June 2015, in Malam Nasir El-Rufai’s first week in office, he took briefings from all Ministries and Agencies. At the briefing, the then SUBEB chairman, Dare Akawu, told the governor that at least 50% of school pupils sit on floors because of the absence of furniture. This means that previous governments that received allocations based on $100 oil did not bother about schools;
• In response, Malam El-Rufai declared a state of emergency in Education to begin the rehabilitation of public schools, providing water, toilets, roofs, windows, doors and furniture;
• Contracts to rehabilitate schools and to provide furniture were awarded. The first phase included the rehabilitation of 10% of the schools. The cost of rehabilitating just 10% of the schools indicated that at least N60bn will be required to fix just the primary schools.
• But the capital spending in Kaduna State had never approached that figure until the El-Rufai government achieved record capital expenditure in 2016.
• Malam El-Rufai compiled and took an album of photographs showing the dilapidation of schools, and shared it with development partners, making it clear that the state needed resources to fix the issue. This is how the Economic Transformation discussions with the World Bank started. On 20th June 2017, the World Bank approved Kaduna State’s application for USD 350m; disbursement is awaiting National Assembly approval.
• It was obvious that Education required massive cash injection, which could be best provided by development partners.
• It also became apparent that, given population trends, what was needed was beyond a programme of school rehabilitation. Kaduna State needs to rebuild its schools to provide enough classrooms, offices for teachers and other facilities.
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