The Borno State School Enrollment Committee set up by Gov. Babagana Zulum of Borno has registered 1,845 children at its flagged-off in Monguno.
Recall that Zulum as part of measures to accelerate school enrollment, particularly in northern Borno, where there is high population of out of school children, inaugurated a committee with the mandate to go round the state and sensitize parents to enroll their wards.
The committee its inaugurated in November commenced work on Friday in Monguno town.
The committee had on arrival in Monguno started work with a meeting with stakeholders where the Chairman of committee Prof. Isa Hussain Marte who is also the Chief of Staff to the Governor, briefed the stakeholders on their mission.
Before commencing the enrollment process, the committee inspected some of the existing primary, junior and senior secondary schools in the town to ascertain the true condition of all the exiting facilities in the town.
At the Monguno Central primary school which is the venue of enrollment programme, Prof. Marte addressed parents and pupils who turned out en masse despite the short notice.
The Chairman of Monguno local government Council, Alhaji Kyari Ibrahim commeded the courage and patriotism of the governor for initiating the move and thanked members of the committee for making sacrifice to visit Monguno which is considered one of the hard to reach areas due to insurgency.
An eder in the town, Alhaji Kalla Maina who is also APC State Deputy Chairman, thanked Zulum for his vission and foresight towards reviving the educational sector in the state, and called on the people to support the Governor’s laudable policies and programmes for the state.
Also in his remarks, the District Head of Bida, Alhaji Zannah Kaumi Mustapha commended Zulum for providing visionary leadership and called on him to construct more schools in the town.
Alhaji Mustapha Gambo, Chairman School Base Management Committee of Central primary school and at the same time the PTA Chairman of Monguno Local Government Area, commended Zulum for re-opening schools in the town after three years of closure, and urged him to provide them with schools buses to ease transportation problem and motivate pupils.
In their separate remarks, Bako Alhaji Yusuf and Kachallah Alhaji Bukar who brought their children for enrollment, they thanked Zulum and members of the committee for providing them with the opportunity to educate their children free of charge.
The State Advisor on Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), Alhaji Abba Kura Mariu, commended parents for coming out massively to enroll their wards and assured them that the government under the BESDA programme is poised to reduce out of school children and improve literacy and numeracy in the state.
While in Monguno, the committee had an interactive session with retired teachers in the area with a view to re-engage some of them
The committee had after concluding it assignment for the day visited the Commander of Sector 3, Operation Lafiya Dole, Maj. Gen. S.I Igbinomwanhia to create synergy and collaboration between the military and the committee to ensure success of the programme.
