Kashim Shettima, Borno state governor and chairman of the northern governors’ forum, says the north has more public primary schools than the south but 14 million children are out of school in the region.
Speaking at the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the forum and Fundacion Profuturo, a Spanish organisation, for the funding of education in the region, the governor disclosed that the North has 41,913 public primary schools while the south has 19,978.
He said despite the availability of schools in the region there is still a very low literacy level.
“Until April this year, I was living with a wrong notion that the number of public primary schools in the southern part of Nigeria tripled the number of schools in the north. I thought the number was, in addition to other key factors, responsible for the wide literacy gap between the north and south,” he said.
“I was lucky to have participated at an event organised by the Sir Ahmadu Bello Memorial Foundation in Kaduna and listened to a thought-provoking lecture eloquently delivered by Dr. Suleyman Ndanusa, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“He shared a finding of UNESCO and the National Bureau of Statistics which showed that whereas the entire southern Nigeria made up of the east, west and south have a total of 19,978 public primary schools the north-east alone has a total of 19,436 public primary schools.
“The number of public primary schools in the north-east is almost equal the total in the entire south, Yet, the north-east is just one point shy of being the lowest in literacy across the entire country.
“At regional levels, the three geo-political zones in the north have a total 41,913 public primary schools, more than twice the number of public primary schools in the south. Yet, the South has 67 percent literacy level while the north has a dismal 34 percent literacy level. The ratio in poverty is also in similar proportion between the north and south
“An intervention like the Profuturo Program is certainly one step that can increase the functionality of public schools in Northern Nigeria. This means, helping to address the critical need to make public schools in Northern Nigeria more and more functional. The northern governors solemnly pledge total commitment to the implementation of this project to improve the quality of our public educational system.
“I know that majority, if not all of my colleagues, the northern governors are doing very well in trying to change the conditions of public schools in their respective states. But as we know, the North is grappling with an ever increasing population. The number of school-aged children out of school is still on the increase. At the last count, we had 14 million out of school children in the north. The whole thing is an irony.
“The schools are there but not very functional and where the schools are functional, there is low enrollment. We must continually device means of addressing these problems through creative steps and flexible steps.”