Katsina State may receive additional N20 billion to implement World Bank initiated Best Education Service Delivery For All (BESDA) programme besides about $6 million so far disbursed to the state.
World Bank’s senior education specialist, Thanh Mai, made this disclosure in Katsina during an interactive session between Governor Aminu Bello Masari of the state and executives of the bank led by Dr. Tunde Adekola.
“It is quite a sizeable budget that will get into the state and I am very hopeful that with your support, this ambitious but manageable programme will get implemented in this school year,” said Mai.
According to her, the implementation agency would go round some states including Katsina between next month and March 2020 for spot check of the implementation before the release of the additional funding to the state.
She noted that the global apex bank had been collaborating with Katsina on the bank’s new project focusing on secondary education under its 10 million girls’ programme, otherwise known as the Adolescent Girls Project.
Mai said the current mission was really focused on what it would take to expand junior secondary and senior secondary learning opportunities to children in Katsina, adding that the exercise was a major challenge in the state with about 2700 primary schools but only 270 secondary schools.
“Basically, for 10 primary schools, we have one secondary. We need to expand the number of junior and senior secondary schools to accommodate increased enrollment we have achieved in primary education. So, we will be looking to continue to work with you to continue in finding solution to this,” she said.
The governor, who expressed appreciation over the contributions of the World Bank in the area of education which tops his administration’s restoration agenda, revealed that, as from this year, the state would to be creating at least 68 additional junior secondary every year to address the issue of transition from primary to secondary school.
Masari added that the government recently acquired a private school in Katsina and converted it into girls’ boarding school capable of accommodating no fewer than 2000 students as part of the measures to combat the need for more girls’ secondary schools.
