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From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe
After four years of declaring a state of emergency in primary and secondary education in Gombe State, the government has disclosed new plans to shift its focus to higher institutions. According to the state government, the aim is to promote effective teaching and learning to produce competent graduates who can contribute to the socio-economic development of the state and the country at large.
The new plan was revealed by the State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya while receiving the report of the visitation panel to the state’s College of Education (COE) Billiri. He explained that the new shift is in line with the vision of the current administration to revamp the education sector in Gombe State.
Governor Yahaya who was represented by the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibrahim Abubakar Njodi stressed the government’s commitment to providing the necessary resources and support needed to achieve the goal.
He added that the administration was deliberate in setting up the visitation panels to have a comprehensive understanding of the situation of higher institutions in the state to identify areas that need intervention to reposition them in line with global best practices.
The Governor noted that visitation panels are a necessary catalyst for the development of the administration of higher institutions. “Visitation panel is an educational ritual where after some time, a panel goes on to give a wholistic assessment of the educational situation in the institution in question”, he said.
He further explained that in the last four years, his administration focused more attention on basic education; primary and secondary schools. “But I am proud to say today, we have been able to come out of the woods. When we came in, the percentage of students passing WAEC and NECO in Gombe State was very low. To God be the glory, by the end of our first tenure, it has risen to over 67 percent,” the governor revealed.
Having achieved this feat, the governor said, his administration is now focusing on higher institutions in its deliberate attempt to methodically intervene to promote effective teaching and learning for the overall development of Gombe State.
Therefore, he assured members that the state government would carefully study the reports and implement the same within available resources. “The report will be thoroughly studied and of course, all the recommendations contained therein will be implemented within the resources available to the government”, he assured.
Earlier presenting the report, the chairman of the panel, Professor Mohammed Gurama Dukku said the report was a result of robust work, careful and extensive deliberation based on mutual consultations and submissions from stakeholders, engagement with development documents, and physical observation among others.
“Your Excellency, we are pleased to report that we have tried as much as possible to deal with these issues thematically based on the terms of reference that were given to us and maybe with a few things we found to be pertinent to this particular assignment”, he said.
While expressing gratitude to Governor Inuwa Yahaya for finding members of the panel worthy to serve in this capacity, the chairman assured their readiness to serve the state in whatever capacity, hoping that their report will guide future policies to develop the state college of education and the overall education sector in the state.
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