A school improvement grant worth more than $5 million or over N2.1 billion has been disbursed to all the 578 junior and secondary schools in Katsina State.

The disbursement was launched by Governor Aminu Masari, as part of plans to strengthen community support and ownership of schools.

Masari said the disbursement would be made through School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) under the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment (AGILE) project.

He said the state government has put in place modalities for the establishment of an additional 160 secondary schools to complement existing ones in the state.

He said the new secondary schools would be constructed through the AGILE project.

He, however, called on SBMC members to ensure judicious utilisation of the grants, saying the plan is to gradually hand over some aspects of school management to communities where they are located.

The state commissioner for education, Dr Badamasi Lawal revealed that the academic performance of secondary school students had greatly improved.

According to him, from 2007 to 2014, the performance of secondary school students in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) stood at only 19 per cent. “This means that out of 417,576 candidates that sat for the examination, only 79,044 obtained five credits.

“ From 2015 when governor Aminu Masari came on board and 2021, a total of 475,988 candidates have sat for WASCCE out of which 354,610 (74.49%) scored five credits and above in any subject. This is unprecedented,” he said.

He said the improvement in academic performance was due to the state government’s effort at providing learning materials, recruitment of hundreds of additional teachers, and renovation and expansion of school infrastructure, among others.