Headmistress of Local Education Authority (LEA) Primary School, Kugbo, Hajiya Hauwa Abdulraman, has said that school children in Kugbo “stay away from school and prefer to go to the farm with their parents because of school uniforms.” She stated this yesterday during a march-past practice organised by the school preparatory to the International Children’s Day celebrations scheduled for May 27. Hauwa said many children attending government-owned schools, especially in Kugbo, play truancy with the encouragement of their parents, who attached little or no value to the academic future of their children.
“When I resumed duties in September last year, I noticed that the population of pupils in the entire school was just below 1,200 pupils. I had to embark on a sensitisation programme to encourage parents to bring their wards to school, because education is the key to a successful life. Since they complained of not having school uniforms, I told them to come with their mufti until they can get their uniforms ready. “I told them not to pay any registration fee, so many of them responded positively, as the number increased to more than 2, 000 pupils.
However, at the beginning of this term in April, I insisted that they should start coming to school with their uniforms, so that we can have an organised school, but many of them stopped coming to school again,” she said. She added that parents “are complaining of not having money to provide school uniforms for their children and pleaded with government to intervene by providing school uniforms for the pupils; in order to encourage their education for a secure future.”
On her part, a teacher of the school, Mrs. Funke Paul, said the headmistress had tried her best to encourage the education of children by starting up a nursery section, and needs to be encouraged by parents and government; to ensure free and qualitative education for all Nigerian children. “When she introduced the nursery section last year, carried out the necessary wall inscriptions for the learning of children and employed a nanny for them, about 70 pupils registered. However, when she insisted on school uniforms for the children, the parents started preventing many of them from coming to school. We just have about 52 pupils now. I am even afraid that it will be closed down if she is transferred out of the school, because she is using her personal resources to run it.
