The Kano State Government has disclosed that 4.7 million pupils across the state have been sitting on bare floors to learn since the current administration took office on May 29, 2023.
Governor Abba Yusuf revealed this troubling situation, expressing his disappointment with the decline in the quality of education in the state. He noted that over 400 schools had only one teacher for all classes and subjects, with these teachers struggling with outdated and insufficient resources.
During a speech at the Government House, where he declared a state of emergency on education, the governor announced plans to hire 5,000 new teachers to revitalize the education sector. He condemned the neglect and misuse of school facilities for commercial purposes, describing it as an assault on public education.
Governor Yusuf emphasized that the era of pupils sitting on bare floors under harsh conditions was over. He promised to ensure the rehabilitation and provision of furniture for public schools.
He said, “More than 4.7 million pupils were sitting on bare floors to take lessons while about 400 schools have only one teacher for all classes and all pupils.
“Rather than building more classrooms and providing basic furniture in the schools, as well as hiring more teachers, the administration we took over from chose to butcher the land belonging to those schools, in some places, demolishing classrooms to create space for shops.
“Those schools that they could not sell, they closed them down and got them vandalised. The encroachment of public school lands and the conversion of these vital institutions into private business premises is an affront to our communal values and a direct assault on our commitment to public education.
“This reckless appropriation of educational spaces for commercial use is unacceptable and must be stopped immediately,” he said.
The governor restated the commitment of his administration to addressing the precarious state of the education sector, adding, “As your elected governor, entrusted with the solemn responsibility of steering our state towards prosperity and progress, I cannot ignore the glaring reality that confronts us in the realm of education.
“And with education being our number one priority, and believing that education is not only a public good but also the greatest asset that any people can bequeath to its upcoming generation because no people can grow beyond the quality and standard of their education system, we must, therefore, take radical but practical measures to reposition education provisioning in our state.”
While expressing concern over the increase in the number of out-of-school children in the state, he said his administration had taken adequate steps to address the trend.