By; KATO P. LADAN, Kaduna
In order to reduce the menace of out-of-school children in Adamawa State, foremost Adamawa humanitarian and philanthropist, Dr. Emmanuel N. Musa has donated N200 million to 200,000 pupils across the state in commemoration of this year’s children’s day.
The gesture according to the philanthropist, is to remove some of the little encumbrances which contribute significantly to the menace of out-of-school children in the state.
Adamawa State which is one of the frontline states afflicted by Boko Haram insurgency has been grappling with the scourge of out-of-school.
Concerned over the development which has a debilitating portent on the future of the state, Dr. Musa deemed it fit to come to the rescue of the pupils through the distribution of N1000 handout to 200,000 pupils in the state aimed at enhancing school attendance.
The programme, which is christened “Pupils Special welfare program” has elicited commendations and praises from a large creme of stakeholders in the education sector.
It would be recalled that Emnamu foundation the vehicle through which Dr. Musa is rolling out his humanitarian services to the citizens, has unveiled an educational programme tagged BACK TO CLASS Initiatives, aimed at bolstering school enrollment in the country, especially the North, which according to UNICEF, has over twelve million out-of- school children.
The programme has so far, enrolled over five thousand pupils across the North, and is envisaged to enroll ten thousand more, before the end of 2025.
According to reports from education experts, the programme has abridged the identified gaps which militate the smooth dispensation of basic education in the north by providing basic learning materials such as books, pencils, pens and other writing materials, which are some of the identified stumbling blocks.
A stakeholder, Dr. Halliru Bawa who expressed happiness with the intervention of Dr. Musa enthused that “with this intervention, so many pupils would turn up to continue with their educational pursuit.”
The chairman, Committee of headmasters in Hong Local Government Area of Adamawa State, Mr. Sale Buba during the distribution of the handout noted that such a timely intervention would solve numerous problems such as lack of hygienic toilets, which discourage some pupils from going to schools.
“I bet you, this would encourage a very huge turn up in the next couple of days,” Buba said.
The National Coordinator, Emnamu Foundation, Comrade Kukuya Godwin expressed his satisfaction with the laudable initiative and the gap it has closed.
He further said, the intervention has enabled the foundation come up with first hand data on the general condition of learning of the pupils, rate of school enrollment and associated factors.
Godwin also noted that they were also able to identify some other critical gaps in the education system such as teachers to pupil ratio and will in the nearest future formulate suitable policies to address these menaces.
“We have seen it all. Some without shoes, some with no writing materials, some with torn uniforms, some cannot afford to buy even detergent to wash their uniforms among others.
“This would no doubt solve numerous problems and make us to be abreast with their challenges and how to foster viable solutions to them,” he added.
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