Yobe's Peculiar Boarding Primary Schools

Kabir Matazu

Senator Mamman Ali, the late Governor of Yobe State, had the grand vision of turning around the educational fortunes of the state. Our reporter investigates his dream and the state of schools today.

Yobe Boarding Primary was the idea conceived by the late Governor of the state, Senator Mamman Ali. "My dream is to produce medical doctors, engineers, pilots with a lot more professionals from the children of peasant farmers and uneducated nomads, living in the remotest arid areas of Yobe State within a period of ten years," he said

The Principal of Turkish International School Yobe, Mr Ramazan Ince tells Daily Trust the late Governor had surely died with a dream, because his persistence on the school to open its branch in Yobe proved to be fruitful, even though the management of the Turkish college rejected his offer at first before building the school structure for them. Now the state had received the first international bronze medal of international project competition in Georgia.

"The state will not appreciate the investment made by the late governor until the next 10 years.The real outcome will surely come in the next 20 to 30 years, Yobe should be patient," he said.

He said that pupils from Yobe are brilliant, but they find it very difficult to catch up with their mates in the first year, due to the poor background in primary school education.

Principal of the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Potiskum, Hajia A'isha N. Natsu once told our reporter in an interview that many students from Yobe must undergo extra lessons before they are able to catch up with their classmates due to a poor background in Primary education.

"We have more than 800 students in this school and over 60 percent are from Yobe, but it has always been difficult for them to meet up with the standard. We put them on extra lessons before they are able to meet up," she said

Malam Abdullahi Chairman recounted his experience in Potiskum when his daughter attempted the Turkish college examination, but ended up in a remedial class at FGGC Potiskum.

"She is the best student in her primary school, and that gave her opportunity to sit for the Turkish school examination. She performed wonderfully in the written examination, but she failed her oral test. Later she sat for the Federal Unity schools examination and passed, but surprisingly, she was the only girl that passed, the rest were favoured to avoid wasting the Yobe state slot. My daughter was telling me that they spent almost 6 months attending remedial class, before meeting up with their mates from other states" he said.

Mamman Ali's vision for establishing the boarding primary school may not be unconnected with the will to succeed in providing sound primary school education, that would serve as a continuous process of getting the best brains generation after generation , until the entire school becomes literate.

"We received proper care during our school days and enjoyed free food, free clothes and pocket money, why wouldn't these poor pupils have the same?", he asked.

He spent over N2.7 billion in constructing boarding schools across the 17 local government areas of the state. He erected a school structure for Turkish International College in Mamudo at the cost of N1.5 million, and leased it to the school for 49 years. He visited Turkey to see their quality of education, "He brought the idea of sending Yobe indigenes to study in Turkey. As I am speaking to you now more than 87 students are studying different courses at Turkey University," Mr Ramazan said.

Excerpted from the article published on Daily Trust, 27 July 2011, Wednesday