This is hinged on the philosophy challenging the tacitly accepted social segregation against girl-child education, special education for People Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) and promotion of entrepreneurial studies for those whose vocation lie outside the regimented school system tailored towards white collar jobs.
While inaugurating the model Government Girls Secondary School at Kwandere, Lafia local government area penultimate Monday, Governor Al-Makura said that education of the girl-child was pivotal to the rapid socio-economic development of every society and should be given adequate attention.
“The inauguration of the school is a testimony that this administration places high premium on the education of the girl-child,’’ he said.
Al-Makura announced that three other model girl schools under construction across the state would soon be inaugurated to give the girl-child ample opportunity to compete favourably with her male counterpart.
“Girls’ secondary schools are being constructed in three strategic locations in the state. Apart from the one we are commissioning today, the construction of a similar school has been completed in Udege, Nasarawa local government area and will soon be commissioned.
In the same vein, another such edifice is being constructed in Panda, Karu local government area of the state and will be completed and commissioned for the benefit of our children,” the governor disclosed.
He further called, on all “to prioritise education of our girl-child. This is crucial, considering their inalienable responsibilities as wives and mothers whose roles in inculcating family and social virtues in our children cannot be quantified.”
He stressed that his government will continue to evolve policies and programmes that will elevate the educational enrolment of the girl-child, the physically challenged and indigent children in the state.
Similarly, Governor Al-Makura, has been paying serious attention to the cause of people living with disabilities, especially their education.
After a tour of special schools for the disabled across the state recently, he stated that his administration had so far expended over N1.6 billion on providing conducive learning environment for this neglected segment of the society.
He explained that the school, when completed, would be a one-stop-shop institution that would cater for the educational needs of all categories of physically challenged children up to secondary school level.
The governor pointed out that the schools would be fitted with specialised state-of-the-art facilities in line with his administration’s philosophy of inclusiveness to give equal opportunity to physically challenged children to access formal education.
A medical doctor with hearing impairment, Dr. Ann Enyi, who assessed the governor’s commitment in this regard, lauded the Nasarawa state government for the initiative.
Enyi told a Sunday Newspaper that she became deaf at the age of three but was able to weather the storm to become a medical doctor and consultant through the support and encouragement she got to pursue her dream.
She pointed out that the school would go a long way in uplifting the standard of education for the physically challenged in the state.
Enyi promised to work with the school to inspire the pupils to fulfil their dreams, called on all stakeholders to support people living with disabilities in order to get the best and contribute their quota to societal development.
Similarly, taking into cognisance the prevailing shortage of white collar jobs and ever increasing number of graduates from universities who continue to swell the labour market, Governor Al-Makura has mandated tertiary institutions in the state to introduce compulsory entrepreneurial subjects.
This, he said, would help orientate youths towards innovative job creation, reduce unemployment in the state and reduce over dependence on white collar jobs.
He said the step would boost the knowledge base of graduates, offer them skills and provide them choices of creating employment for themselves, noting that government at all levels is saturated and only a virile private sector orientation can provide the needed avenue for job creation.
“We want to ensure that entrepreneurial skills are rooted in our tertiary institutions. By that, I mean that virtually all the tertiary institutions will accommodate the recommendations of the document in their curriculum studies.”
Al-Makura, while calling on other states of the federation to develop such template to help complement government’s efforts towards engaging youths and other categories of unemployed persons stressed that, “rather than wait for government for employment, if it comes, fine, but if not, such a graduate can survive on the skills he has learnt while in school.”
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