National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) Zamfara State chapter has called on Zamfara State Governor to re-consider the decision of opening schools that are within safer locations so that academic activities can begins head-on.

His Excellency,

The Executive Governor,

Zamfara State.

RECONSIDERATION OF OPENING OF SCHOOLS IN GUSAU AND SOME OTHER LOCATIONS WHERE THERE IS IMPROVEMENT IN THE SECURITY SITUATION

Your Excellency the executive Governor, we are constraint to write this passionate letter of appeal to your good office considering the level of social crises that ravaged the state in recent time and your decision to shut down schools in the overall interest of saving the lives of Zamfara children, especially after the incident at GDSS Kaya in Maradun.

As you know we are all stakeholders working hand in hand with your government in making sure that we have lifted the status of the state educationally and just like any other time we are under obligation to support every steps your administration has taken in making Zamfara state safer for educational activities and other socio-economic engagements by the people.

As an association and also critical stakeholders we have been watching the development carefully in the state especially since the incident of the abduction of the students of GDSS Kaya in Maradun and also the steps you have taken toward making sure that they have been rescued unconditionally. To us, it has been one of the giant steps taken by your government which further build our confidence that soonest Zamfara state would return to its old position of being the most peaceful state in the federation. 

But your Excellency despite the huge challenges poised by the ongoing armed bandits activities, your administration needed to be reminded of one of its social obligations to its people which is providing access to education across all levels. The continued closure of schools across the state his Excellency really portrayed a serious danger to the lives of our children and also to the ongoing fight against armed bandit activities, considering the connection between ideal mind and psychological frustration, especially among our children.

Your Excellency, you may recall that due to this inherent social crises you met in Zamfara state, our status, or position in terms of educational statistics nationally  has not improved despite giant investment you have made in both infrastructural and human resource development. Our enrollment capacity has continued to face drastic drop, our performance interns of WAEC/NECO is still in the same position, the number of out of school children in the state has continu to  increase proportionately due to continued acts of armed banditry which forced thousands of innocent households with their family out of their inherent settlements for long.

Now since the incident of Kaya our schools both public and private have remained under luck and key and the impacts of that closure is already telling bad on the future of our children. Educational survey carried out recently across the state has shown that youths between the ages of 6-17 have turned to social media promoters engaging into all forms of political promotions and misled by politicians to be opening social media handles and be generating contents that are meant to promote harsh political atmosphere which constitute imminent danger to our volatile environment.

Again as stakeholders, we have also shared the sad feelings of the parent about the continued closure of schools as they continued to suffer harder in terms of getting their children disconnected with acts of political thuggery and other social vices which evidences have shown are at the proportionate increase.

It is in consideration of this, we deemed it important to call the attention of his Excellency the Executive Governor to re-consider the option of opening schools that are within safer locations of the state so that these children can be allowed continuing with educational activities. In as per as we may continue to support the closure of boarding schools till when the security  situation improves further, government can allow day schools within the capital city of Gusau and also within some local government headquarters that are safe to open for continuation of academic activities just like our neighboring state of Katisna ordered last week so that our children would not be left behind.

We implore the government to come up with unified measures to be adopted by both private and public schools, so that security within school premises can be improved and the confidence of both the parents and pupils can be boosted. We are very much ready to support the government to develop operational strategies for schools in Zamfara state under this condition of “new-normal”.

While appreciating the effort of the Governor for re-appointing members of his cabinet, we implore him to hasten the deployment of Commissioner for Education so that activities of the ministry can move speedily head-on.
We also appreciate his Excellency for his commitment to the plight of Zamfara people and for his passion to securing Zamfara state. We have also appreciated the commitment of the government in education and implore the government to continue to do more. Upsetting the backlog of WAEC/NECO, recruitment of 500 teachers, implementation of promotion and advancement for primary school teachers as well as infrastructural upgrading of some public schools are all commendable efforts, and we urged the government to continue to do more.
It is our hope that His Excellency will look into the plight of the parents by offering for opening of some schools if not all that are within safer locations.

Thank You 

Samaila Hussaini Moriki 

(Sardaunan Kwangwami)