Nigeria to Enroll All Almajiris in Schools By September - Jonathan

President Goodluck Jonathan on Monday said that all Almajiris would be taken off the streets and enrolled in schools by September.

Mr. Jonathan, who was represented by Vice President Namadi Sambo, stated this in Lafia at the inauguration of the TA'AL Model Primary School constructed by the Nasarawa State Government.

He said out of the 143 Almajiri model schools being constructed across the northern states, 120 had so far been completed.

"We have agreed at the last Economic Council meeting that by September, we would have all the less privileged children participating and learning in all these schools", the president said.

Mr. Jonathan commended Governor Umaru Al-Makura of Nasarawa state for his commitment to the education sector in line with the transformation agenda of the Federal Government. He noted that Nigeria had about 9.5 million less privileged children without the opportunity to go to school hence government was committed to giving opportunity to the less privileged.

The president said apart from providing the infrastructure in the schools, the federal government had given approval for the provision of free textbooks and uniforms to all the pupils. He said government would also contribute toward the provision of laboratory and all other teaching and learning equipment in the schools.

He assured Nasarawa State of federal government's continuous partnership through the provision of counterpart fund under the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme.

On his part, Mr. Al-Makura said the inauguration of the model school marked the commencement of the new UBE-ICT Education Policy in the state's primary and junior secondary schools.

"I believe that this will accelerate the acquisition of computer literacy in our schools and lay the foundation for the turn-around of the fortunes and prosperity of basic education", he said.

According to him, contracts had been awarded for the construction of 36 of the model schools across the 13 local government areas of the state.

The governor explained that model school comprises two blocks of eight classrooms each and 32 units of cistern. He said the schools were designed to cater for Early Child Care Development Education, (ECCDE).

According to him, primary and junior secondary schools have common facilities like ICT, library, arts & crafts, workshops, science laboratories and a multi-purpose hall, among others.

Mr. Al-Makura said that his administration had commenced the construction of three special schools to take care of the education for physically challenged children.

NAN