Kaduna State government has pledged to provide qualitative education opportunities for Almajiri school pupils and other underprivileged children.
The special assistant to the governor on the school feeding programme, Dr Fauziya Buhari-Ado, said this in a statement made available to newsmen in Abuja.
Fauziya spoke while hosting some Islamic and underprivileged school pupils as part of the Eid-el-Kabir Sallah celebration held at the Umaru Musa Yar’Adua Bilingual Primary School situated in Maraban Gonda, Sabongari local area of Kaduna State.
She said the government decided to fete the pupils who combine Western and Islamic education as part of an ongoing effort to ensure that children of the less privileged have access to quality education in the state.
Fauziya added that the school feeding programme, which has cost the state government over N4 billion so far, has boosted school enrolment and retention and stimulated the local economy in the state.
She said that 25,000 schoolchildren in the 23 local councils of the state are already benefiting from the school feeding programme.
Fauziya also revealed that the event, which witnessed the slaughtering of the sacrificial ram, special Eid lunch, cake cutting, and distribution of free gifts, provided her with the opportunity to interact with the pupils who were initially out-of-school children in the state.
An official of one of the Islamic schools, Malam AbdulHamid Ahmed, described the school feeding initiative as a welcome development since it has created an enabling environment for vulnerable children to have equal opportunities to acquire education in the state.
He acknowledged that the school feeding programme has had a tremendous positive impact by increasing school enrolment in his school.
The village head of Filin Malawa, Magaji Datiya, thanked Governor Sani’s administration for the kind gesture.
