By; ALEX UANGBAOJE, Kaduna
Stakeholders supporting education sector in Kaduna State, met to brainstorm on the situation of education in the state.
During the meeting which was organized by Kaduna Basic Education Accountability Mechanism (KADBEAM), supported by Partnership to Engage Reform and Learn (PERL), after identifying issues impeding development in the sector since 2018, a presentation of scorecard of government performance in some areas for 2021 on education especially on procurements was made.
According to data made available by KADBEAM, presented by Leslie Dong 74 per cent of schools they accessed do not have water facilities in them, and 74 per cent also lack gender specific toilet facilities.
Findings of the scorecard, according the mechanism, was a result of the analysis of data obtained from the tracked projects across 10 out of the 23 local government areas, covering urban, semi urban and rural parts of the state.
The scorecard prioritized issues around girls education, social inclusion and early child development in the education sector, adding that so far, over N2,172,182,100.79 worth of projects have been tracked.
The scorecard further revealed that 38 per cent of to the facilities are without toilets. While 25 per cent has pit toilet, only 17 per cent are fitted with water closet toilets.
The finding also shows that 94 percent of the schools lacked play facilities for children and that 93 percent also lack safe spaces for young people especially girls.
63 percent of the schools are not fenced and the only eight per cent fenced with gates are already broken, while 62 per cent are not Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) friendly.
The equally revealed that they could not access data for 2022 because the MDAs failed to make the available, which the say contravene the the provisions of state procurement law.
The Mechanism therefore called on the Ministry of Education and Kaduna State Universal Basic Education Board to enforce compliance to the provisions of Section 35 [16] of the Kaduna State Procurement Law by all Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) and other institutions in the state, which mandates all public procurement records be open to inspection by the public.
“The Ministry, Department and Agencies/Institutions in the Education sector of Kaduna State comply with the provisions of section 35 [15] of the Kaduna State Procurement Law in providing all procurement records to
Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority not later than 2 months after the award of contract.
“That Kaduna State Public Procurement Authority takes seriously the provision of
section 13[g] of the Public Procurement Law 2016 which mandates the Authority to collate and maintain all state procurement plans and information to strengthen public service delivery for the Education sector through procurements.
“The Kaduna Public Procurement Authority to strengthen supervision of the implementation of procurement policies and regulations in the education sector in line with the provision of section 13[c] of the Public Procurement Law 2016.
“The Ministry, Departments and Agencies in the Education sector and all tiers of government to strengthen school-based needs assessment in the development of procurement plans and project implementation.
“The State Government to prioritize releases of budgetary allocations to the education sector to enhance timely delivery of planned Education projects and programmes across the state.
“Increase the compliance of projects to the Kaduna State Disability Law towards promoting inclusiveness in the procurement for education in the State. Create synergy across all MDAs tasked with service delivery in the Education sector to rely on the annual schools census data and other relevant data in the sector in the planning and implementation of education projects.
“Kaduna State Ministry of Education should strengthen schools level accountability mechanism set up as School-Based Management Committees in the area of effective project monitoring to increase the efficiency of delivery of procurements for the
education sector.
“The State House of Assembly to strengthen oversight functions to ensure strict adherence by procurement entities in the Education sector to policies, laws and guidelines governing public procurement and public service delivery in Kaduna State,” they added.
They also urged the Federal Government institutions in the education sector in Kaduna State to be open and support citizen-led transparency and accountability initiatives in the sector who will continue to monitor implementation of projects in line with extant laws and policy commitment of the Federal Government to ensure open, transparent and accountable governance.
