Govt seeks funding options for almajiri schools

AHEAD the post-2015 era, when it will cease to be an item on the nation’s annual budget if the present administration is re-elected in next month’s general elections, the Federal Government is seeking funding options for the Almajiri Integrated School (AIS) project to ensure its retention and sustainability.

   According to the Minister and Deputy Chairman of National Planning Commission (NPC), Abubakar Sulaiman, who disclosed this yesterday in Abuja at the strategic stakeholders roundtable, “it is incumbent upon us to ensure the sustainability of this laudable initiative by providing very strong basis, especially in the face of nation’s dwindling resources.

   “It is the hope of government that on being re-elected, the programme will not become a continuous item on the annual national budget, with expectations that the outcome of this strategic stakeholders meeting will generate framework with which funding, logistics and other inherent challenges will be addressed.”

   The colloquium on the “Milestone Achievements on the Almajiri Integrated Schools Programme in Nigeria: Defining the Next Steps,” he said, should note that despite the achievements of the project, the system “is facing the challenges of retention and sustainability.

   “For that reason, some other sub-schemes will be introduces to further strengthen the appeal of the project and support government action towards achieving relevant aspects of the MDGs goals, like the feeding programme, meant to give pupils in schools three square meals, snacks/fruits each day.”

   This is devised “to reduce hunger and malnutrition among children in the almajiri schools and strengthen the achievements of the Universal Basic Education in addressing the gaps in basic education in disadvantaged states and encapsulating the AIS into the mainstream of the National Education Policy.”

Finland to partner Nigeria on science education

Meanwhile, the Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria, Mrs. Pirjo Suomela-Chowdhury, has advocated cooperation between her country and Nigerian in the area of science education and mathematics.

   Suomela-Chowdhury spoke yesterday in Abuja during her courtesy visit to the Minister of Education, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau, noting that the Finnish education system is advanced and internationally acclaimed hence the need for Nigeria to tap from it.

   “The reason for this visit is that education is something that Finland places a lot of emphasis on; in the last few years, there has been a lot of international publicity in the Finnish education system,” she said.

   “One reason is that there is a study called Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and we have done very well in it – it is a study that measures the learning of 15-year-olds with emphasis on science literacy and mathematics.