Students Union under the umbrella of Danmodi Students Care has begun its campaign to enroll about 30,000 out-of-school children back to school across the 27 local government areas of Jigawa State.
Speaking at the distribution of uniforms and other learning materials to registered students, the senior special adviser to Jigawa State governor on student matters, Comrade Salisu Muhammad said, their union was very much concerned about the high rate of out-of-school children in the state.
He explained that after conducting a survey on out-of-school children in the state, they found out that many of them are out-of-school because they lost their fathers while their mothers can’t not afford to send five to six children to school, among other issues.
“Based on that, our union embarked on a campaign to enroll 30,000 of such children back to class. Some were dropouts while some have never been registered into any formal system of education.
“In each of our 27 local governments, we targeted to support over 1,000 children and at the same time support their mothers to ensure punctuality and retention of the students.
“We have also provided intervention for students with disabilities; some studying at School of the Blind, Dutse. Over 150 bicycles were given to pupils studying at far distance schools. We secured and rented hostels for Jigawa students studying at Federal University Gashuwa, and also facilitated the scholarship and emergency response to various students’ needs,” he said.
Comrade Salisu promised to continue supporting the Jigawa State government policy designed to ensure that every child gets access to quality education irrespective of their parents’ socio-economic status or geographical location.
At the occasion, the Jigawa State governor, Malam Umar Namadi commended the union’s efforts in supporting educational development in the state and charged them to keep monitoring the students they enroll back to class.
He promised to provide them with all the necessary support to enhance access to quality education from primary to tertiary levels for every child in Jigawa State.