Kashim Ibrahim Fellows construct classrooms in Kaduna community

Fri, Dec 13, 2019
By publisher
3 MIN READ

Education

THE Second Cohort of Kashim Ibrahim Fellows (KIF), has begun the construction of a two block of classrooms at Local Government Education Primary School Danhonu I, to improve the learning environment.

Gov. Nasir El-Rufa’i had in August 2018 inaugurated the KIF, a one-year programme for 16 fellows from all over Nigeria to develop and nurture their leadership abilities for public service.

The school located around Millennium City, Chikun Local Government Area of the state, had 1,660 pupils and 250 adults, predominantly women undergoing adult education.

The primary school has only a block of two classrooms built by the state government and additional uncompleted single classroom being built by members of the community.

Dr Maiwuya Abubakar, one of the fellows in-charge of supervising the project, said at the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction on Friday in Kaduna, that the school was experiencing shortage of classrooms.

Abubakar, with a PhD in Construction Management from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, disclosed that at the moment, nursery and primary one pupils, about 542 of them use a single class.

He also said that primary two, three and four were also congested in one class; primary five and six were equally stuffed in a single class, while adult education holds in the open.

He added that the school has no fence, no source of water and no toilet facility, while the roofs of the existing classrooms were leaking.

According to him, the construction of the classrooms, which would be concluded within 50 days, was part of the KIF community service to help decongest the school and improve teaching and learning.

“Education is in the heart of the current administration and we decided to contribute our quota by supporting the government to improve school’s infrastructure to ensure conducive learning environment.

Also speaking, the Deputy Governor of Kaduna State, Dr Hadiza Balarabe, described the project as a “lasting legacy” that the fellows would be remembered for by the community and the state.

“This is very touchy, very commendable and worthy of emulation. Thank you for making a difference.

“This will go a long way in supporting the state in developing the needed human capital with requisite education, skills and talent for the overall development of the state,” Balarabe said.

The Commissioner for Education, Dr Shehu Makarfi, equally thanked KIF for the support and urged the community members to take ownership of the projects to ensure sustainability.

Makarfi said that the state government would take necessary steps to address the challenges of the school in line with ongoing transformation of the education sector.

Sen. Uba Sani, representing Kaduna Central at the National Assembly also promised to construct and furnished additional block of two classrooms for the school.

Sani, who was represented by the Executive Director, Uba Sani Foundation, Alhaji Ibrahim Dan’Halilu, called for more support to the school to improve access to quality education in the state.

Similarly, the Caretaker Committee Chairperson of Chikun Local Government, Hajiya Hadiza Yahuza, said that provisions have been made in council’s 2020 budget to improve the infrastructure of the school.

The Head Teacher of the school, Mrs Hanatu Kadafo, thanked the Kashim Ibrahim Fellows for coming to the aid of the school and appealed for more support to provide quality teaching and improve learning outcome.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the activity was part of the KIF week-long community services to give back to the society.

The community service began with employability workshop on Monday and Tuesday that exposed 331 graduates to what was required to gain employment in the labour market and how to be self-employed. (NAN)

– Dec. 13, 2019 @ 17:05 GMT |

Tags: