Zamfara lauds college of education’s role in education reform

The Zamfara State Governor, Dauda Lawal, has described the Federal College of Education Technical, Gusau as a platform that nurtures and produces qualified teachers for public schools in the area.

Lawal spoke when the FCET Governing Council paid him a courtesy visit at the Government House.

A statement on Friday by the governor’s spokesman, Sulaiman Idris, explained that the visit was part of efforts at improving synergy between the state government and the FCET Gusau.

According to the governor, “I want to start by saying that the people of Zamfara state have greatly benefited from the Federal College of Education Technical Gusau and five of my sisters graduated from FCET.

“Considering all the indicators, the state of education in Zamfara has been at the bottom for many years, consistently vying with Yobe State for the last position in the country
“Last year, I declared a state of emergency in the educational sector of Zamfara due to these challenges.

“For over three years, the previous government failed to pay fees for the NECO and WAEC examinations which was quite unfortunate but we have since settled the debts.

“Just recently, you may have read in the news about the performance of our students in the NECO entrance examination for gifted students. Our dear state, Zamfara, emerged as the best-performing state in the entire North and the second-best in the whole country.”

He assured that Zamfara state is dedicated to ensuring every child has access to quality education.

“Currently, we are renovating and constructing over 290 schools throughout the state.The steps we are taking involve providing suitable furniture and offering continuous training to our teachers.

“In this endeavour, the FCET plays a significant role as we aim to enhance the capacity and quality of our teachers.

“So, we will work in synergy to revamp the educational system of Zamfara State,” Lawal said.

Earlier, Chairman of the FCET Governing Council, Prof. Muhammad Nuhu, commended the governor for prioritising education in his administration’s agenda.

He said, “We are the governing Council of the prestigious FCET. It is considered prestigious because it was the only one of its kind in the entire federation at the time of its establishment.

“When it was established, there was a lot of envy regarding why it was located in Zamfara. Later on, I realised that this was because Zamfara is one of the most disadvantaged states in terms of education development.

“Today, we are here due to your government declaring an emergency in the state’s education sector and the positive steps you are taking to improve the sector.

“We commend you for your efforts and we would like to take this opportunity to praise your wife, the First Lady, Hajiya Huriyya Dauda, who sponsored 20 students in the college and awarded three computers to the top three graduating students.”