Your Excellency, I will start with wishing you successful Eid el-Fitr celebrations, although the COVID-19 pandemic does not allow people to celebrate. May Allah, The Almighty in His infinite mercy heal the world from this pandemic, and may He give the wisdom, courage and strength to fight it judiciously.
Primary Education is the best education as it serves as the foundation of knowledge, it therefore deserves the best treatment. Education is like a building, if its foundation is made up of ashes, the subsequent blocks that will be laid no matter how qualitative they are, the building will definitely collapse. The selection of Education Secretary is relevant and it determines the fate of primary education. I have much passion on the primary education reform, this is the reason I write this open letter.
Your Excellency, I used to note (in my previous articles) that your administration is known to be one of the best as you give first priority to education, more especially primary education. I should add here that, this priority is evidenced where you elevated the position of your former Special Advisor on Higher Education to Commissioner for Education. This is commendable considering his stake in the education sector.
Honourable Badamasi Lawal Charanchi is an erudite professor from Faculty of Education, Bayero University, Kano. He is known to be dedicated, diligent and hardworking person. His passion for the primary education reform had touched lives since 2007 when he was local government council chairman in Charanchi. He did well in reforming primary education; he made sure that qualified teachers were maintained; he had been supervising the academic activities regularly; he even distributed shoes, school uniforms, as well as learning materials to the primary pupils.
I learnt that the tenure of most of the Education Secretaries within the thirty-four local government areas of Katsina state has lapsed, the offices are therefore vacant, hence the search for their replacement.
Your Excellency, as you always give education priority, this is another thing you have to consider, I humbly advise that politics should be out of the process. Kindly emulate Kaduna state procedure for the selection of Education Secretaries. They post advertisement on newspapers for the qualified applicants with the criteria clearly stated, so that any person who knows that he is not qualified will be out of the contenders.
It is on this note that I humbly advise that the advert should state the minimum qualification which should be a Bachelor of Education degree. I know we even have Master degree holders in education who have a very good background working under our various Local Education Authorities. Also, the minimum qualification should have been obtained at least not less than ten (10) years before the date of application. Minimum years of experience should also be set which should be not less than twenty (20) years; and the applicants should come from the affected local government area.
After a successful advert, the selection committee should screen the applications based on their stipulated criteria and enlist the qualified persons at the first screening. Interview will later be called where the enlisted candidates will be interviewed. From this interview, I hope the best candidates can be pointed out.
Meanwhile, I also learnt that the Education Secretaries Selection Committee is made up of persons described as “stakeholders” from the affected local government area. This is a good idea, but if we look at the great nature and impact of an Education Secretary, it is not the best idea. Education Secretary is the overall supervisor of primary education in his Local Education Authority; therefore, an educated, experienced person must be appointed and this can only be done by equally experienced educationists through a politics-free process. The stakeholders can be involved to advise and supervise the selection process, but not to be the selectors.
Your Excellency, even if this is the status quo, you will build a strong legacy and an antecedent worthy of notice if you bring about change in the system by appointing learned personalities who through a committee free of politics for the Education Secretary selection. I have been emphasizing for a politics-free committee because, it is my fear that if politics is allowed into our education system, it will definitely collapse and our children’s education will be put in danger.
On the other hand, tertiary students of Katsina State indegene have been expecting the payment of scholarship for more than two years. Your Excellency, although COVID-19 led to the sudden suspension of the process, it could have been achieved before the outbreak of the pandemic if you gave the process the treatment it deserves.
Your Excellency, Scholarship Trust Fund is meant for students, the role of the state government is to be adding more fund. Trust Fund can only be used in the order prescribed by the law creating it by persons who are the Trustees. This was the reason why our former governor, Umaru Musa Yaradua after he successfully renamed it to Scholarship Trust Fund, appointed a person who was known as an entrepreneur as its Chairman.
It is my utmost believe that, our amiable governor will look into this matter with his eagle eye as he does whenever he is been highlighted on an issue.
Muazzam Funtua
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