Salvaging basic education in Borno from ruins of Boko Haram war

For years, Boko Haram insurgents waged a violent war in Borno and other parts of the northeastern part of the country, with threats to extend their rage to Abuja, the federal capital.

But the Nigerian military, particularly under the immediate past president, Muhammadu Buhari, fought gallantly, crushing the insurgents and reclaiming territories they occupied.

Now most of the state is enjoying the degree of peace it didn’t enjoy a decade ago as most of the Boko Haram fighters have been killed, others have fled into the Sambisa forest, and many more have repented and been reintegrated into society.

But the scars of the war are huge. The insurgency left in its wake massive destruction of infrastructure.

The main objective of the fighters was to stop western education, so predictably, education infrastructure was the worst hit during their reign of terror.

Consequently, as the state undergoes reconstruction, rehabilitation, and resettlement after the 13-year crisis, one of the sectors receiving special attention under Gov. Babagana Zulum's administration is education.

Today in Borno, many places where schools were destroyed have better school structures as replacements, while many areas hitherto without schools now have both Western and Quranic schools in line with the policy of ensuring that every school-age child in Borno is enrolled in school.

During the first tenure of the Zulum administration, 24 ‘mega’ schools were constructed as the government ramped up its enrollment drive.

However, one major challenge remains: the lack of qualified teachers.

The seriousness of the lack of qualified teachers was exposed by a committee set up by the governor that conducted competency tests on 17,229 teachers in the 27 local government areas of the state.

The committee discovered that only 5,439 teachers, representing 31.6 percent of all the teachers, are competent to teach.

The chairman of the committee, Lawan Wakilbe, said the report classified the teachers into three categories: competent, trainable, and incompetent.

Under competent are 5,439 teachers, while 7,975 teachers are trainable, meaning they require training to shore up their performance, with the remaining 3,815 as incompetent.

“A review of their qualifications shows that 1,627 teachers, constituting 9.4 percent, are degree holders; 8,153 teachers, constituting 47.3 percent, are NCE holders; and 2,066 teachers, constituting 12 percent, are diploma holders.

“We also found out that 713, constituting 4.1 percent, are Teachers Grade II holders, and 281, constituting 13.2 percent, have SSCE/GCE or equivalent qualifications.

“Similarly, 2,389 teachers, constituting 13.9% of the teachers, are without any formal qualification,” Wakilbe said.

Zulum, upon receiving the report, described the situation as unacceptable and requiring urgent action.

He said a solid foundation was needed to achieve good basic education in the state.

“We cannot move Borno forward unless we are able to sanitize our public school system, and if I can do that, I would have achieved 50 percent of what I set out to achieve,” Zulum said.

Zulum echoed this position while taking the oath of office for his second term in office.

In a speech entitled “My vision for the next four years,” he spoke of his renewed commitment to education.

He said in addition to the 24 mega schools, his administration has in the past four years rehabilitated 108 schools and employed 1,000 teachers, adding that plans are in top gear to recruit 4,000 more teachers.

“Insha’Allah, we will, in the coming days and weeks, implement some policies, especially on education, because education is the foundation of growth. Without sound education, a society may not easily attain its vision.

“I am sure some people may ask why we are particular about education, and even at that, why focus on primary and secondary schools?

“The obvious reason is because the foundation of education is primary and secondary school.

“When a student gets it wrong at the primary and secondary levels, he or she is unlikely to do well at tertiary schools. To that effect, I must say that some of our policies will be tough.

“Another obvious reason is that in all disciplines, whether doctor, engineer, lawyer, pharmacist, nurse, or whatever profession, the foundation will be primary and secondary school.

For any policy to be effective, those tasked with the responsibility to implement it must be fully equipped to do so, and Zulum says the administration is conscious of that.

“A bad start will end up making you a bad professional in whatever field. To give effect to a good start, we shall provide vehicles to education secretaries and zonal inspectorate officers to strengthen monitoring.

“Our measures will not only be punitive but also rewarding,” Zulum said in his address.

A similar focus is being paid to Sangaya education (the Almajiri system), where a committee has already submitted its report, which led to the establishment of a board to cater for that.

The focus on quality Western and Quranic education is indeed a welcome development for a state like Borno that experienced an insurgency occasioned by bad indoctrination.

Already, the state has produced a 25-year development framework and 10-year strategic transformation plan that it needs an educated population to accomplish.

According to a Pakistani gender activist, Malala Yousafzai, who once visited Borno, “with guns you can kill terrorists; with education you can kill terrorism,” as well as pave the way for rapid development and a prosperous society.

By Yakubu Uba