Damilola Oyedele
22 July 2008
Abuja — On July 27, 2007, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Dr. Aliyu Modibbo Umar promised that the education sector would be one of the sectors to receive the utmost attention of his administration.
He assured that government schools would be upgraded to meet acceptable standards so as to provide conducive environment for learning.
"No nation can afford to toy with its education sector because education is the bedrock of any meaningful development. No serious country will handle the education sector with levity since the economy of the world is knowledge-based", he had said.
Modibbo also disclosed that the FCTA will provide special incentives for teachers serving in the rural areas of the FCT as this will encourage people to get into the teaching profession and even motivate them to serve their motherland from the hinterland, adding that such incentives would include transportation and accommodation.
The Minister advised indigenes of the FCT to educate their wards to enable the original owners of Abuja take their destiny in their own hands and noted that "education will give you all the needed opportunities in life, especially the education of a girl child who will surely impact positively on the entire family".
Matching words with action, the Modibbo administration has taken a major step towards improving the education sector through the provision of N101m scholarship for the natives of Abuja, to alleviate the struggle by the parents (mostly peasant farmers) to pay schools fees.
At an award ceremony held recently in Government Girls Secondary School, Abaji, Abuja, the Secretary of the Education Secretariat, Alhaji Hussaini Halilu Pai, said the budget allotted to boosting education would be increased next year, so would the scholarship vote so as to be able to involve more deserving beneficiaries.
He also called on all parents and other stakeholders to join hands with the government to ensure that education in the FCT delivers excellent services to all the students and pupils who attend its institutions.
Pai said the motive of the education assistance are to promote and encourage access to and retention in primary and secondary schools across gender, to provide educational opportunities for the challenged children and to encourage vocational, technical and science education in the territory.
According to the Secretary, it is important for parents to monitor the behaviour of their wards at home and in school and to encourage them to maintain a high standard of behaviour. It is also intended to encourage healthy competition among the FCT students, promote access to higher institutions of learning across the country and to promote excellence in education.
The Education Secretariat has already disbursed over N93m to the 7,466 students who are beneficiaries of the 2008 scheme; 500 pupils, 300 junior Secondary students, 200 senior secondary students, 160 tertiary students were selected from each area council. All children with special needs and all pre- tertiary institutions students were also automatically qualified for the scholarship.
The scholarship is supposed to cover the period of schooling for the basic education, through the senior secondary to the tertiary institutions.
Interestingly, while the indigenes of the FCT have been 'spoon-fed' on various occasions like the allocation of land, they would have to work hard to earn the next scholarship for the next academic year. Those in primary and secondary schools are expected to maintain a high academic standards and moral conduct.
For those in the tertiary institutions, they have to maintain a CGPA of 3.00 otherwise they forfeit the award; engaging in any form of exam malpractice also automatically disqualifies beneficiaries. The only sponsor of this laudable scheme is the Federal Capital Territory Administration which incorporates it into its budget.
It is however being advocated that companies, organisations and corporate bodies operating in the territory to make available a certain percentage of their annual earnings for the support of education in the FCT.
THISDAY however gathered that one of the commercial banks operating in the country is already providing a similar scholarship scheme and talks are ongoing with the FCTA to see how the efforts can be merged together.
The assistance of the private sector is also being sought to ensure expansion of the scheme to cover more beneficiaries. While the scheme is available to deserving post graduate students it is yet to be extended to those studying in foreign universities. The scheme also covers all children with special needs in public schools regardless of their states of origin.
The Secretariat has various schemes to boost education among the indigenes who are mostly farmers, to ensure that literacy is improved.
The Home Grown School Feeding and Health programme has encouraged people to send their wards to school. The secretariat also embarked on advocacy visits to the community leaders to help sensitise their people on the need to send their wards to school.
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