From Mika’il Tsoho, Dutse
The Jigawa communities from Babura and Malam-Madori local governments have identified shortages of teachers as one of the challenges to child education in their areas calling on the state government to recruit more teachers to fill the gaps.
The call was made during a Partnership Defined Quality Scorecard (PDQS) Town hall meeting with stakeholders to strengthening community participation to improve safe, inclusive and quality education, organized by Save the Children International (SCI) in collaboration with Jigawa State government through Partnership for Learning for All in Nigeria (PLANE), Window 3- Community Support for Learning project.
Speaking on behalf of Masko Community of Babura local government at the town hall meeting, the team lead from community explained that, some of their challenges in their school include shortages of teachers as the school have few permanent and pensionable teachers with other volunteers to control hundreds of pupils.
The team leader maintained that, other challenges are Inadequate learning and teaching materials, hawking and lack of support from the parents to send their children to school.
While identifying their challenges, the Insharuwa community from the same Babura local government, announced absence of junior secondary school as threat to the continuation of their children’s education.
On their side, the Dorowa community from the same Babura local government area, listed lack of WASH facilities, Inadequate teachers, lack learning and teaching materials and Inadequate support From the parents as major challenges to the education of their children.
Meanwhile other communities from Malam-Madori local government areas including Kashin-Dila, Garun-Gabas, Akurya, Shiyya and Kamala communities identified the same shortages of teachers, Inadequate learning and teaching materials, dilapidated classrooms, lack of WASH facilities and Inadequate support From parents as major challenges to primary education in the areas.
The participants of the meeting called urgent intervention from both local, state government, parents and entire community members to give more support to basic education for better future of their children whom are the leaders of tomorrow.
While responding to identified challenges the director Social Mobilization, Jigawa State Universal Basic Education (SUBEB) Malam Muhammad Ibrahim, lamented that despite the present administration is doing all it best to fill the gaps by introducing J-teach program, and removal of recruitment embargo, the state still suffers from Inadequate teachers in the schools.
He maintained that, the state as of now have a deficit of over 14,000 teachers in its primary and junior secondary schools, while over 70 communities are demanding the establishment of junior secondary schools across the state.
Ibrahim said the state government was intensifying efforts to bridge the gap through the recruitment of qualified teachers under permanent and pensionable arrangements, as well as through the J-Teach programme.
“the issues confronting universal basic education in Jigawa are cumulative, spanning decades, and cannot be resolved within the short period of less than three years of the present administration.”
In his remarks, the District Head of Babura, Nata’ala Mustapha, Sakin Bai of Ringim, urged the government to revive Teachers’ Colleges to boost the production of qualified teachers.
He stressed that such institutions played a vital role in the mass production of competent teachers from the colonial era through the 1990s.
“The present Colleges of Education are not producing the quality teachers required. It is very important to revive Teachers’ Colleges in Jigawa and across Nigeria,” he said.
Also speaking, the Field Manager of Save the Children International in Jigawa State, Mr Stephen Sawa, supported the call for the re-establishment of Teachers’ Colleges, describing them as a faster and more effective means of producing competent teachers.
Sawa also emphasised the need for stronger collaboration between communities and government in sustaining education interventions, warning that declining global funding could undermine gains recorded in tackling out-of-school children.
He explained that the stakeholders’ meeting was convened to review progress and develop strategies for sustaining the PLANE programme, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), in Kano and Jigawa states.
According to him, “the community is an integral part of any education programme. What we are doing here is to assess achievements and outline what is expected from the people to sustain these gains.”
Sawa noted that economic hardship often forces families to withdraw their children from school, particularly during farming seasons, to support household income.
Despite the challenges, he described the initiative as successful in reviving community participation in education adding that, over 200 People’s With Disabilities are enrolled back to school in the listed communities.
“Our approach is community-based learning. It has reawakened the understanding that education is not solely the responsibility of government or donors, but a shared duty that begins with the community,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to sustain ongoing efforts to drastically reduce the number of out-of-school children in the state.
