…Expresses Satisfaction with Quality of Work, Teaching, Learning

…Says “We have Succeeded in Changing the Negative Narratives about Basic Education”

Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya earlier today paid on the spot assessment visits to some completed and ongoing projects in Government Science Secondary School Gombe, Government Girls Secondary School Doma and Government Comprehensive Day Secondary School Dadinkowa.

The Schools inspected are among the five Secondary Schools slated for conversion into model institutions of learning by the administration of Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya to curb the needless establishment of mushroom colleges across the State.

At the Government Science Secondary School Gombe, which was the Governor’s first port of call, the Commissioner of Education, Dauda Batari Zambuk told the state chief executive that since the establishment of the premier institution no meaningful intervention was accorded to the school other than the one currently being undertaken by his administration.

The Commissioner conducted the Governor, in company of top Government functionaries round the newly built and furnished 160 bed capacity hostel constructed at the premises of GSSS Gombe which will accommodate students of its junior section.

Impressed by the quality of work at the hostel, Governor Inuwa Yahaya called on the school authorities to ensure proper maintenance of the facility by ensuring that no students are allowed to use unauthorized items such as electric cookers and stoves.

Governor Inuwa Yahaya equally inspected the renovated staff quarters and a 5.7 hectares of land to be used for the construction of state of the art structures for the soon to be established model school. The plot is already fenced by the Government to avoid encroachment.

The Governor who expressed dissatisfaction with the level of encroachment on the school’s property said his administration will not tolerate such trespass.

He also observed with concern the gullies threatening the topography of surrounding lands in the institution, saying while his administration takes steps to address problems associated with the erosion, the School authority must encourage students to plant trees so as to provide vegetational cover to the exposed land.

While in Government Girls Secondary School Doma, the Governor inspected a newly constructed two storey building consisting of 24 classrooms.

Governor Yahaya who expressed happiness with gradual upscale in performance of the students if Gombe state in external examinations, said the State of Emergency declared by his administration on the Education sector presupposes that institutions of learning at the basic level must be transformed to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

In Government Comprehensive Secondary School Dadinkowa, the Governor inspected the newly renovated structures at the institution which were left in complete dilapidation and dire condition for many years.

Addressing students there, Governor Inuwa Yahaya advised them to take their studies seriously, be of good behaviour and obey their teachers, parents and constituted authorities.

He assured them that his administration will do everything necessary to change the structural and intellectual narrative of their school and the education sector in general.

In an interview with journalists, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya said he decided to embark on the inspection visit alongside members of his cabinet in order to have a first hand information on interventions so far accorded to schools in the state.

He expressed satisfaction with the level and quality of work at the three secondary schools visited, saying the days where ‘students compete for space with bats and rodents in schools are over’.

“By what I saw today, I am convinced that we are on course and this school has changed and is not only this school, you are aware that we declared a state of emergency in education and so far we have worked alot in basic education sector by putting up classrooms, laboratories, libraries and necessary infrastructure needed for good and sound quality education and I can say that we have succeeded in changing the negative narrative hitherto associated with especially the basic education in Gombe state”.

The Governor said he hoped to see Gombe state at the forefront in terms of high quality education in Nigeria, saying that has been his objective and that the state Government under his leadership will not relent until the goal of repositioning the education sector for effective and efficient service delivery is achieved.