Kaduna Flags Off Commissioning of Basic Education Interventions, Hails Development Partners
By Uangbaoje Alex, Kaduna
The Kaduna State Government has flagged off the commissioning of basic education interventions implemented across the state’s 23 local government areas, with the Deputy Governor, Dr. Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe, commending development partners for supporting the state’s investment in education.
Balarabe, who represented Governor Uba Sani at the flag-off ceremony held at Sultan Bello Primary School, Unguwan Sarki, appreciated the development partners for their continued collaboration and support to Kaduna’s education sector.
Some of the projects being commissioned were supported by the Islamic Development Bank through UNICEF under the Reaching Out-of-School Children (ROOSC) Project.
She said the interventions reflected the administration’s commitment to human capital development and its determination to provide children with conducive environments to learn and develop their potential.
According to her, the interventions being rolled out across the state include the construction and rehabilitation of classrooms, provision of toilets and water facilities, science laboratories, computer centres, furniture, teaching and learning materials and vocational facilities.
“Every society is shaped by the quality of education it gives its children,” the Deputy Governor said, stressing that the classroom was where the potential of future doctors, teachers, engineers, entrepreneurs and leaders began to take shape.
She said the administration had, since 2023, treated investment in basic education as an investment in Kaduna’s future rather than merely expenditure on infrastructure.
Balarabe disclosed that four bilingual education schools had been delivered in Igabi, Zaria, Giwa and Kauru through collaboration with the Universal Basic Education Commission and the Islamic Development Bank.
She said the facilities were designed to expand access to education, particularly for children who were previously out of school.
The Deputy Governor also highlighted the establishment of vocational centres in public basic schools, where pupils are exposed to skills including welding and fabrication, electrical installation, carpentry, fashion design, solar installation, plumbing and masonry.
She said the government had also invested in teacher development, school management and monitoring to ensure that infrastructure translated into improved learning outcomes.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Abubakar Sani Bello, said 3,267 classrooms had been newly constructed or rehabilitated across the state, alongside 2,252 WASH facilities, 180 boreholes, 87 science laboratories and 29 computer centres.
He added that 81,540 units of furniture and 545,748 teaching and learning materials had been provided to schools.
Bello said more than 33,177 teachers, headteachers and school support officers had received various forms of training, while 8,730 School-Based Management Committee members had been trained in school leadership and development planning.
Giving an overview of the interventions, KADSUBEB Chairman, Malam Mubarak Muhammad, said the projects had deliberately been distributed across communities in the state to ensure that children were not denied opportunities because of where they lived.
He said KADSUBEB was commissioning the intervention programme from Sultan Bello Primary School, but the projects extended to schools in Sabon Gari, Zaria, Kaduna metropolis, Chikun, Kajuru, Sanga, Jema’a, Kagarko and Zangon Kataf, among others.
Muhammad said the programme also included more than 1.1 million teaching and learning materials, 18 smart boards, 55 motorcycles and three Golf wagons.
He said the vehicles and motorcycles would strengthen school monitoring and quality assurance, while the smart boards would support digital learning.
The KADSUBEB chairman also disclosed that more than 33,000 teachers, headteachers and school support officers had received training in digital skills, classroom management, foundational literacy and numeracy, pedagogical approaches and school management.
He said the Teaching at the Right Level programme was currently being implemented in 10 local government areas, with more than ₦500 million approved for its expansion.
Muhammad said the ultimate test of the interventions would not simply be the number of classrooms or facilities delivered, but whether children were learning better.
“A classroom can be newly built and still be an empty promise if the child does not learn in it,” he said.
He urged stakeholders, including school authorities, communities and School-Based Management Committees, to protect and sustain the facilities provided by government and its partners.
