The Kebbi State government on Tuesday said it has distributed not less than 1,261 computer tablets to 1,261 primary schools, saying the number represents 65 per cent of public schools in the state.
Executive Chairman, Universal Basis Education Board (SUBEB) in Kebbi State, Prof Suleiman Khalid, disclosed this at the Public Schools Verification Programme held in Birnin Kebbi, the state capital.
The verification tour, it was gathered, was organised by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) to ascertain areas of needs in public primary schools.
Speaking during the exercise, Khalid said, the deployment of technology in the State would help to monitor and track pupils in the State.
“I invite you to note the deployment of technology in our dear state. DLI 7 deals with the deployment of digital attendance and record keeping in schools.
“Under this programme, our pupils in the state will be daily monitored and this will no doubt assist in tracking and monitoring the attendance, check-in and check-out of pupils and teachers in schools.
“Today, classroom attendance stood at 374,855 pupils representing roughly 67 per cent of the pupils in the primary is monitored digitally across the state,” he said.
He further said that the deployment of digital attendance record keeping would assist the School Based Management Committees, Education Administrators, Local Government Education Authorities and SUBEB to act swiftly on the issue of attendance of pupils in schools and ensuring high level of retention of pupils.
According to the chairman, some major achievements of the board include the establishment of 5,400 non-formal learning centres made up of 3,943 Interested Qur’anic Schools, 1,751 Girl Child Centres and 156 Nobody Child Centres with a total enrolment of 790,500 learners.
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“We have engaged the services of 15,810 facilitators, we provided shades, two sets of toilets and open dug well and other sources of water to 1,008 Integrated Primary Schools (IQS), we are also providing a monthly stipend of N5,000 to each of the 3,943 IQS proprietors and we have provided centre improvement grant to each centre management committee the sum of N50,000 to 3943 IQS centres,” he said.
The Kebbi State Commissioner for Education, Alhaji Muhammad Magawata-Aliero, in his speech said that in the year 2000, African member nations met in Dakar, Senegal and proposed “Education For All” by 2015 “meaning that by 2015 no member nation will have out-of-school children.”
However, he said, Nigeria recorded about 11.4 million out-of-school children by 2015 according to reports, while in many countries there were zero or less number.
Magawata-Aliero said according to reports, in Kebbi State, they have conflicting figures of 501,000 and 914,945 out-of-school.
He, therefore, appealed to NBS to do justice in the course of their verification and assessment exercise.
On his part, the NBS State Officer, Kebbi, Malam Sa’idu Sale, said the exercise was expected to cover 17 states, assuring that of the affected states, “Kebbi has the highest number of schools totaling 7,217 to cover, more than any other states to be covered.
“I want to assure you that all schools will be visited, we are going to conduct a five-day training for our staff, I am assuring you that we have our staff in all the 21 Local Government Areas of the state and we are going to do justice to the exercise.”
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