Vice President Senator Kashim Shettima yesterday launched the Accelerated Senior Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP) initiated by the North-East Development Commission (NEDC) in collaboration with the Vice President Office to reduce the number of post-primary dropouts due to the decline in secondary school enrollment in the subregion which stands at 15 percent, one of the lowest in the country.
The managing director/CEO of the commission, Alh Mohammed Alkali said the Stabilisation and Development Master Plan (NERSDMP) developed by the North East Development Commission and its diverse partners consists of pillars that support human capital development in the subregion which caters for both human capital facilities – infrastructure, teaching/learning material, etc – estimated to cost over N1 trillion.
Alkali made the remark at the launching of the Accelerated Senior Secondary School Education Programme (ASSEP) performed in Bauchi on Saturday by the vice president.
ASSEP seeks to boost the post-primary education rating across the subregion through three major objectives – improved enrolment into tertiary institutions, skills development and elevation of teacher quality.
Alh Alkali assured that the commission is poised to develop and support the children and youth of the Northeast subregion to grow, develop and compete with the best across the world in various fields, excel and contribute to further development of the six states, subregion and country as a whole.
The managing director expressed gratitude to the federal government, especially the vice president, for the deep interest and commitment to human development in the North-East, saying they would be counting on the continued support of state governments, federal government as well as other partners.
Alkali disclosed that the commission has also plowed other funds into human capital training and retraining programmes that could propel socio-economic development of the subregion, saying “This underscores the premium we place on building our people and their capacity to make concrete social and economic contribution.
“Therefore, the Accelerated Senior Secondary Education Programme (ASSEP) we have gathered here to launch today is an intervention focused on addressing a particular challenge in our region’s education system; it will provide effective support where the capacity of conventional schooling arrangements is limited for our teeming beneficiaries.”
He attributed this to the challenges in the post-primary education segment, citing JAMB/UTME applications and admissions into tertiary institutions in 2019 where northeast students’ performance was one of the poorest in the country.
He further noted that nationally, the North-East subregion has the lowest number of teachers and the highest percentage (55 percent of those available) are without literacy skills.”
Vice President Shettima had earlier launched the programme regretting that post primary enrolment in the Northeast is 19 percent which is far below the national average of 39 percent.