With the current state of things in Nigeria and global labour market where white collar jobs are not readily available, the Niger State Government, has announced the introduction of Fridays as a dedicated day for skills acquisition/learning for pupils at the basic level in public schools across the State.
The State Commissioner For Education, Hadiza Mohammed, who disclosed this in Minna, said the decision was adopted to enable children to acquire skills, given the challenges of the high rate of unemployment in the country, and to also catch them young.
She revealed that Mondays to Thursdays would be purely for academics, while Fridays will be dedicated soley to skill acquisition and learning for the pupils.
According to Muhammed, teachers will be drawn from various schools in the State and trained on different skills, which they will in turn pass down to their students.
While lamenting the inadequacy of qualified teachers, the Commissioner said the Ministry is doing everything possible to ensure those on the ground are adequately re-trained, to enable them impact positively on the students.
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She also restated that education is free, and that the government frowns at the levies being charged by school managers in the State, warning them against the attitude. “We say free education, and yet they are asking for reams of paper from each student, especially in a school with over 3,000 students. Imagine how much this will cost a parent who has three to four children in a school”.
“And the question is, what are they going to do with these reams of papers? We also have situations where they demand from parents between N10,000 and N11,000, to do what?”
The Education Commissioner also revealed that to ensure effective and efficient teaching and learning, the government will soon commence a community-based teachers programme, which would allow teachers to work in their various localities, as a relief from the difficulties faced, when they are separated from their families.
(Editor: Ken Eseni)
