Education
THEKatsina State government has said that about 29,633 students have passed the 2024 National Examination Council (NECO) examinations with five credits and above, including Mathematics and English language.
The state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Zainab Musa-Musawa, disclosed this while briefing newsmen in Katsina on Tuesday.
The commissioner was reacting to some media reports, which she said have portrayed the state’s performance in the NECO results in a negative light.
According to her, the reports emphasised only the percentage performance while deliberately ignoring other significant indices that reflected positive strides in the state’s education sector.
“While it is true that the state’s performance in the 2024 NECO exams shows room for improvement, NECO report also highlights several key areas where the state excelled.
“Notably, Katsina State ranked sixth nationally in the number of students who passed the exam with five credits and above, including Mathematics and English.
“This is a staggering achievement, with 29,633 students meeting this critical benchmark—more than in at least 30 states, including the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja.
“In contrast, some states recorded fewer than 10,000 students who passed with five credits, including Mathematics and English,” according to the commissioner.
She pointed out that the 29,633 successful candidates from the state were more than enough to fill the state’s quota in Universities and other tertiary institutions for the 2024/2025 academic session.
Musa-Musawa said that this figure represented a significant increase from the 25,152 candidates who met the same benchmark in 2023, reflecting a remarkable growth of approximately 17.8 per cent.
“The media reports also overlooked the commendable performance of male candidates in the 2024 NECO examination and the substantial number of students mobilised and sponsored by the Katsina State Government.
“The administration of Gov. Dikko Radda, a former teacher himself, has been proactive in addressing the challenges facing the education sector, many of which were inherited from previous governments,” she said.
“Upon assuming office, Gov. Radda made history with the single largest teacher recruitment drive in the state, employing 7,325 teachers within just three months of his administration.
“This number includes 5,000 primary school teachers and additional teachers for post-basic schools, significantly reducing the teacher-to-student ratio.
“What is more interesting about the process was that, all of them were employed after sitting and successfully passing a competency test, thereby curtailing nepotism and favoritism.
“Furthermore, the state government, in collaboration with BESDA-AF TESS, has trained 17,470 teachers to enhance their capacity and improve the quality of education,” she said.(NAN)
A.I
Sept. 25, 2024
Tags: Gov. Dikko Radda Hajiya Zainab Musa-Musawa NECO
