Gombe Trains 420 Officials To Deepen Community Ownership Of Public Schools

The Gombe State government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), has trained 420 School-based Management Committee (SBMC) members to strengthen community participation, accountability and grassroots governance in public basic schools.

Speaking during a tour of the ongoing four-day capacity-building programme in Gombe Central, the director of Social Mobilisation, SUBEB Gombe, Mohammed Saje Daud, said the goal is to ensure that every public school has a functional committee capable of supporting effective school management.

The training is the final phase of the programme, marking the completion of the statewide exercise, which has moved through Gombe North and Gombe South Senatorial zones.

“This is the final phase of the training. Having already conducted two similar sessions in other senatorial districts. By the end of this training, God willing, we will achieve our target. From what we have seen here, the participants are people of integrity, elders in their communities, ready to learn and ready to cascade the training to others who could not attend,” he said.

The director noted that a key component of the programme is the step-down training model, which requires participants to return to their communities and train other SBMC members not physically present at the workshop.

“We expect them to organise in-house training when they return to their schools so that everyone will be on the same page,” he said.

He attributed the successful rollout of the programme to the consistent payment of counterpart funding by the state government.

“The government provides 50 per cent, while UBEC provides the remaining 50 per cent. Without this counterpart funding, this kind of training would not have been possible. In some states, such interventions are not happening because the matching grant was not paid,” Daud said.

According to him, Gombe State has already released its 2025 counterpart funding, enabling SUBEB to transition seamlessly from the 2024 action plan to the 2025 implementation cycle.

Adamu Aliyu, SBMC team trainer at Central Primary School, Korea, Barunde, described participants as cooperative and attentive, adding that the training is critical to revitalising education from the grassroots.

“Many people think schools belong to the government alone, but they belong to the community. This training empowers communities to mobilise local resources and support what the government is already doing,” he said.

Another trainer, Mohammed Kudi Dukku, described the training as timely, particularly in the areas of school improvement, emergency preparedness and community responsibility.

The participants also expressed confidence that the training would transform school management at the community level and commended the state government and the partnering institutions.

Amina Adam and Shehu Ahmed, SBMC members from Central Primary School, Deba, said the workshop reinforced the idea that education is a shared responsibility, both describing the training as a refresher on the roles and responsibilities of SBMC members and pledging to conduct step-down training for their colleagues who could not attend.