Gombe State Ministry of Education on Wednesday rewarded 24 students in the state who had the highest scores in this year’s Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination.

The GUARDIAN reports that more than 70 per cent of Nigerian students scored lower than 200 marks in this year’s examination across the country.

As a result of the development, Gombe State celebrated the 24 students of Government Day Science 2 Secondary School, Gombe, who scored above 200 marks in the examination with awards and cash prizes.

During the celebration ceremony, the state commissioner for education, Aishatu Maigari, said the gesture was meant to encourage academic excellence in the state and motivate other students to be studious and make the state proud.

She attributed the remarkable achievement to a partnership between the Ministry of Education and Pen Resource Academy under the Students Work Study Programme (SWSP), where the science students received special training and mentoring.

The commissioner expressed delight in the students’ performance, noting that it was a testament to the effectiveness of the state’s education initiatives.

Maigari enumerated some of the initiatives introduced by the state government under the administration of Governor Inuwa Yahaya to reform the education sector, including the declaration of a state of emergency in education, coupled with policies like mock exams and payment of Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (SSCE) fees for students who passed the mock exams.

She stated that the initiatives yielded positive results as over 600 students across the state met the requirements for admission into tertiary institutions last year, as against 2019 when only 22% of students in the state passed the SSCE.

Our correspondent reports that during the ceremony, the commissioner unveiled a special billboard at the school’s gate with pictures of the high-scoring JAMB students as a mark of honour.

Attached are pictures of the special billboard with pictures of the honoured students.