From Saka Bokaji, Minna
Governor Abubakar Sani Bello of Niger State government has directed the state’s Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to kick-start its school feeding programme for primary school pupils in the state.
The governor gave this directive on Wednesday while hosting a team of education experts from Cambridge University, United Kingdom and MRL Public Sector Consultants on “Transforming Education in Niger State (TENS)”, a new education initiative by the state government.
The governor directed the ministry to carry out a pilot scheme with a view to implementing the feeding project in full across all primary schools in the state.
“We benefited from such schemes when we were young. Ministry of Education, Science and Technology should embark on a pilot scheme to enable us capture all schools in the state,” the governor directed.
On the level of decay in the sector, Governor Sani Bello advised that it was no longer fashionable to continue to lament on the decay in education sector, hence the decision and commitment of his administration to transforming the sector to global standard.
He pointed that he was aware of some of the challenges concerning the sector in the state and expressed his readiness to restore education standard in the state and lay solid foundation for it to attain global standard.
“Things started getting bad in the middle and late 90s. Our schools that used to function well went bad and now we are committed to seeing the sector restored. We strongly believe we can correct these lapses we met because this is the beginning of a new page in the sector,” Sani Bello assured.
Head of the Cambridge University team, Prof. Colleen Mclauglin, stressed the need to introduce school feeding into public schools in the state, stressing that feeding programme is as important good learning environment.
She gave data analysis of the challenges to be expected from both the teachers and pupils and also on how transformation in education can be achieved.
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