Education

Zulum orders relocation of 362 pupils over poor learning environment

Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum, has ordered the immediate relocation of 362 pupils of Malam-Fatori Central Primary School in Abadam Local Government Area of the state to Maiduguri.

Zulum, who made a surprise visit to the school on Thursday, said the relocation of the pupils became necessary over a poor learning environment.

The governor, according to a statement made available to The Star on Friday by his spokesperson, Isa Gusau, also carried out an aptitude test on about 100 students at the Junior Secondary School section of the primary institution.

Governor Zulum, however, found out that 95 per cent of the students admitted could not read, while only seven said they could read.

He later asked each of the seven students to read from a textbook and to pronounce the phrase, “social studies”, with five of the seven students pronouncing it correctly while two failed.

Zulum also discovered that of the 224 teachers on the payroll of schools in the LGA, only six were on ground, while none of them had teaching qualifications.

The governor later directed the deployment of qualified teachers and the retraining of 70 teachers found to be trainable across the Local Government Area.

He, therefore, assured of the government’s support to encourage the 70 teachers to return to colleges to acquire required knowledge and teaching skills.

The Star