A total of 48 schools, including primary, junior secondary, senior secondary, and tertiary institutions in Bauchi State, have been selected to benefit from the Federal Government’s N15 billion pilot scheme of the Safe School Project.
The aim of the project is to ensure the safety of students and provide a conducive teaching and learning environment.
The Ministries of Finance and Defence have taken measures to protect the selected schools in Bauchi State from any security threats.
The disclosure was made by Dr Sule Madara, the Acting Commissioner of the Ministry of Education, Bauchi State, during a briefing with journalists in his office on Friday.
He explained that a team from the two ministries had visited Governor Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir to inform him that Bauchi State had been selected as one of the pilot states for the intervention.
Dr Madara further explained that the intervention, known as the “Financing Safe Schools Initiative,” involves a dedicated fund from the Federal Government to provide security for schools in vulnerable areas.
He stated, “Their essence of coming to visit Governor Bala Mohammed was to introduce the highly powered delegation from the Federal Ministries of Finance, Defence, and other security agencies to come to Bauchi and assess the security situations of security-prone schools across the state.”
The Acting Commissioner added, “They requested for 48 schools to start with in Bauchi State, which includes five primary schools from each of the three senatorial districts, five junior secondary schools, five senior secondary schools, and one tertiary institution from each senatorial district.”
He emphasized that the intervention aimed to develop security infrastructure and build the capacity of host communities in case of eventualities.
Dr Madara stated that the state government had shown the team around the state, and the assessors would soon begin evaluating the selected schools for the intervention.
The criteria for selecting the schools included those that had been previously attacked or were perceived to be at risk, as well as schools without perimeter fences located outside major towns in the state.
Halima Iliyasu, the National Coordinator of the Project, who led the team, explained that they visited Bauchi State to inform the government about the federal government’s intervention.
She stated that Bauchi State was selected to benefit from the N15 billion financing for the Safe School Project to address the needs of schools that were previously attacked by insurgents in the state’s three senatorial districts.