The Kaduna State Government said on Wednesday that it would spend more than N45 billion on education as part of efforts to raise the standard of the sector in the state.
The Governor of the state, Mallam Nasiru El-Rufa’i, who disclosed this when he received the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Executive Director, Dr Babatunde Osotimehin, in Kaduna, said that the government would use part of the fund to improve the capacity of teachers.
According to him, the government is also engaged in direct recruitment of 2,200 teachers to teach English, Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and ICT in secondary schools.
“What we inherited was a situation in which 42 per cent of our teachers were not qualified to teach and when we tested them on the same common entrance exams that primary six pupils take, more than 42 per cent failed.
“We are doing something about raising teacher quality this year,” the governor said.
El-Rufa’i said that the introduction of free feeding in primary schools had raised enrolment from 1.5 million pupils in June 2015 to 2.1 million pupils in September 2016.
He explained that the school feeding programme was aimed at enhancing the nutrition of primary school pupils and reducing the burden on parents.
The governor added that the administration had expanded access to education by making the first nine years of basic schooling free. (NAN)
