BESDA: One million out-of-school children enrolled in schools — FG

THE Federal Government on Monday flagged off the Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) programme in Zamfara State, targeting the enrolment of 148,000 children that are currently out of school in the state.

Honourable Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, Minister of State for Education, who launched the programme on behalf of the Federal Government, revealed that through BESDA programme, over one million children had been enrolled in schools in states where it had 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.

Earlier before the inauguration of the programme.

Nwajiuba paid homage to the monarch, Emir of Gusau,Alhaji Ibrahim Bello (Sarkin Katsina Gusau), where he told the Emir that the Federal Government was proud of the strong ranking of the 14th position of Zamfara State in the committee of states on the National common En- trance Examination ratings in terms of the number of applications vying to get into the nation’s Unity colleges.

The minister also paid a courtesy visit on the Governor of Zamfara State, Alhaji Bello Mohamed where he lauded the achievements of the state government espe- cially 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 14th position in the comity of states of the federation.

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 ed- ucation for the children of Zamfara State has not compromised.

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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.

Nwajiuba meanwhile, assured the governor that a comfortable payment sched- ule would be worked out for Zamfara State.

While cutting the tape for the flag off of BESDA programme in the state, the gov- ernor revealed that the state had paid up all its counterpart funds to Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) upto date which has enabled it to provide classrooms and other facilities, including ab- sorbing all returnee almajirais from other states into con- ventional schools.

The governor noted that the intervention of BESDA would go a long way in solv- ing the challenges of out of school children for which he had declared a state of emer- gency.

Governor Bello expressed appreciation to President Buhari, the Minister Adamu Adamu, World Bank and other development partners in moving Zamfara State forward in the field of education.

In line with the development, the state government disclosed that it had regis- tered 38,357 Almajirai to be provided with free uniforms and washing soaps in 282 reg- istered centres in the state.

NIGERIAN TRIBUNE