The Federal Government on Monday flagged off the Better Education Service Delivery For All (BESDA) programme in Zamfara State, targeting the enrollment of 148,000 children that are currently out of school in the state.
Minister of State for Education Hon Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who launched the programme on behalf of the Federal Government, revealed that through BESDA programme, over one million children have been enrolled in schools in states where it has so far been launched.
Director, Press and Public Relations, Federal Ministry of Education, Mr Ben Bem Going, made this known in a statement in Abuja.
According to him, shortly before the inauguration of the programme, Nwajiuba paid homage on His Royal Highness, the Emir of Gusau, Alh. (DR) Ibrahim Bello (Sarkin Katsina Gusau), where he told the Emir that the Federal Government is proud of the strong ranking of the 14th position of Zamfara State in the comity of states on the National Common Entrance Examination ratings in terms of the number of applications vying to get into the nation’s Unity colleges.
He also paid a courtesy visit on the Executive Governor of Zamfara State, Alh. Bello Mohamed where he lauded the achievements of the government of Zamfara State especially in the area of Basic and Secondary Education which have manifested in the current position of Zamfara State in the National Common Entrance Examination ratings from the last to 14 positions in the comity of States of the Federation.
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Zamfara, the Minister said would soon take advantage of its competitive edge over other states if the BESDA programme is implemented faithfully, having already enrolled 19,000 children.
Reacting to the encomiums from Nwajiuba Governor Bello assured the Minister that his administration would double its efforts in ensuring that the right to quality education for the children of Zamfara State is not compromised.
The governor said, his administration would leave no stone unturned to change the narrative in the field of Education and other areas of endeavour in the state.
He requested the Minister to give Zamfara some waivers or work out a payment schedule in relation to monies owed the National examination bodies.
Nwajiuba assured the governor that a comfortable payment schedule would be worked out for Zamfara State.
While cutting the tape for the flag-off of BESDA programme in the state, the governor revealed that the state has paid up all it’s counterpart funds to Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) up to date which has enabled it to provide classrooms and other facilities, including absorbing all returnee almajiris from other states into conventional schools.
His Excellency noted that the intervention of BESDA will go a long way in solving the challenges of out of school children for which he has declared a state of emergency.
Governor Bello expressed appreciation to President Buhari, the Minister Adamu Adamu, world bank and other development partners in moving Zamfara forward in the field of Education.
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