By; SULAIMAN AHMED MISAU, Katsina
Katsina State Government has began the disbursement of its 4,054,795, 838 billion Naira School Improvement Grants to 150 select primary schools in the state.
The event was flagged off by the state Governor, Dikko Umaru Radda at Shagumba Primary School in Batagarawa Local Government Area under a programme tagged, “Transforming Education System at State Level (TESS)”.
Governor Radda said the benefiting schools were selected based on certain criteria, including level of dilapidation, number of Pupils in catchment communities close to the school and dearth of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities.
He disclosed that, School Based Management Committees (SBMCs) are responsible for utilisation and management of the funds. advising the benefiting committees to ensure judicious utilisation of the funds, for the purpose for which they are disbursed.
Governor Dikko Radda directed that, any of the recently-recruited public school teachers in the state, who rejected the initial posting, should resign his or her appointment, noting that, ” this
is to allow many others waiting for the opportunity to take up the appointment.”
He also directed the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, SUBEB Education Secretaries, and Coordinators of Zonal Education Quality Assurance, to double efforts in ensuring teachers attend their lessons promptly.
He emphasized that, any insubordination among teachers and other staff should be reported to his office and the state government would not take it lightly on any teacher that absconds from duty without any cogent reason.
Governor Dikko Umaru Radda called on education stakeholders, especially community members to ensure regular visit of their catchment schools to monitor lessons delivery and teachers attendance as well as report any incident of truancy and absenteeism of teachers.
Coordinator of TESS, Hajiya Binta Abdulmumini said their program would ensure that several Katsina out-of-school children return to school.
