By Meletus EZE
The Katsina state governor has called for more private sector participation in the development of education in the northern part of the country.
Gov. Aminu Masari made call in Daura on Saturday while addressing graduates of the Community College of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Daura at its maiden convocation ceremony.
Masari decried the fact that over 13 million children are out of school in the 19 northern states adding that out of this the North West had the highest number.
He said government alone could not shoulder the responsibility of providing education for the masses, stressing that all hands must be on deck to reverse the trend for the benefit of future generation.
He said his administration, since inception, had introduced numerous measures to transform the education sector including providing school infrastructure, recruiting additional teachers and improving their welfare.
He suggested a ten-year investment in education by states in the region to bailed it out of redundancy, poverty and indolence.
He said that the state government would erect a perimeter fence in the college and recruit permanent teachers for the school in order to improve teaching and learning.
Earlier, Vice Chancellor, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Prof. Ibrahim Garba, who was represented by Prof. Abdullahi Kabido, Director Institute of Education, commended the community for establishing the school.
He said the college academic programmes were affiliated to the institute for proper quality control, supervision and monitoring.
He said the institute also engaged in training and retraining of teachers, through partnership with different organisations and state governments.
Dr Abdul Aziz Mashi, Provost of the college said that 433 students graduated from the college specialising in education based courses.
He added that six students graduated with distinction during the 2016/17 academic year.
It would be recalled that N64.9 million was realised during the fund raising event for construction of additional school structure in the college.
