Sokoto govt. builds 3 Arabic schools with N500m

Governor Aminu Tambuwal of Sokoto State

Sokoto State Government on Thursday said it had established three new Arabic Secondary Schools at the cost of N500 million.

Executive Secretary, Arabic and Islamic Board in the state, Alhaji Ahmed Baba-Altine, stated this at a news briefing in Sokoto.

Baba-Altine stated that each of the schools was located each of in the three senatorial districts in the state.

He listed the new schools as Sultan Muhammadu Tambari Arabic Secondary School, Illela, Modibbo Adama Girls’ Arabic Secondary School, Maruda and Muhammadu Moyijjo Arabic Secondary School, Dagawa

“Students for these schools had since been admitted and they will take off at the beginning of the 2016/2017 academic session at the end of September.

“With the new schools, Sokoto state now has 15 Arabic secondary schools across the state, with four dedicated to females.

“The schools run an integrated system of education encompassing both western and Islamic education,” he said.

Baba-Altine explained that the syllabus of the schools was produced by the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Education, adding that the board prepared and marked their examinations.

“The questions are produced both in Arabic and English, while the candidates also have the options of answering in any of the languages.

“The integrated system has greatly reduced the problem of apathy of western education in the state.

“The system has also helped in shoring up the enrolment, retention and completion rates of students, including girl-children by nearly 100 per cent.

“For instance, from 9, 000 students’ enrolments in 2014 the figure has doubled in 2016, while 22, 000 students are now being targeted,” he added.

The secretary also said that the board had upgraded 10 community Islamiyyah schools to Junior Arabic Secondary Schools across the state.

“This was done in partnership with the benefitting communities to shore up enrollment, retention and completion of students, especially girl-children.

“This giant stride by the board in promoting the enrolment of the girl-child into schools has yielded a fruitful result.

“In less than a month to their take-off, a total of 1,061 girls has so far successfully enrolled in such schools.

“Without this effort, many of them will be missed as dropouts,” he said.

Baba-Altine commended the state government for its sustained support to the board and urged parents to reciprocate the gesture by enrolling their children in schools.