Elites and some stakeholders from Gombe North Senatorial District have decried the poor state of education of the area and called for the reopening of all boarding secondary schools closed on account of Boko Haram insurgency over four years ago.
Speaking during a press briefing on the state of the zone and its stand on the forth coming 2019 elections, Chairman of the Board of Trustees (BOT) of Gombe North Unity and Development Association (GONUDA), Alhaji Muhammad Musa Kafarati, said the closure of the schools has taken them backward.
He said the situation has also made many of their children to go into drug abuse and other social vices thus making the zone to produce the largest number of out of school children.
According to him, there is scarcity of teachers as a result of the rural nature of the zone and lack of social amenities.
He said the poor state of literacy is worsened by near absence of demand from the community as parents remain sceptical of advantages of education and consequently do not encourage enrollment of their children into available schools.
In his words, “At this juncture, we humbly wish to call on the State Government to reopen the closed boarding secondary schools in the area..
“The Schools are, Government Science Secondary School Nafada, Government Science Secondary school Dukku and Government Girls Secondary School Malala. We believe that the security situation has greatly improved”.
Speaking on the stand of the zone in the build up to the 2019 elections, GONUDA said it will push for decent electioneering campaigns through sensitization and counselling of candidates to avoid hate speeches and abusive campaigns.
It said it will work with INEC, the electorates, civil society organizations, the press and all concerned stakeholders for peaceful, free, fair and successful elections.
“We will equally admonish the electorates to vote with their conscience and elect only leaders adjudged suitable, capable and willing to move our zone and Gombe State forward. Money politics should be avoided in order not to mortgage the future of our citizens now and in the future”, he stressed.
