Resumption: Kwara schools record low turnout of pupils, students

By Aminat Babatunde, Oguntimehin Sunita, Nasirudeen Ahmad, Adedeji
Adenuga and Adeshina Mariam

After about two months break, schools across the 16 local government
areas of Kwara State resumed for the 2019/2020 academic session with
most of the schools in Ilorin, the state capital recording low turnout
of pupils and students.
Our interns who went round the Ilorin metropolis on Monday, Tuesday
and Wednesday discovered that about 50 per cent of the learners in
public and private schools were yet to resume for the new academic
session.
Speaking with our reporter on the development, the Principal, Queen
Elizabeth Senior Secondary School, Hajia Rahmat Abdulrahman, blamed
the low attendance on the financial incapability of some parents,
adding that many of them were expecting to fund the school needs of
their wards from their next salary.
“Due to the fact that we run a co- boarding school, we started
preparation for resumption in earnest. The teachers have gone round to
fumigate the hostels, make the premises and classrooms clean as well
as the hostels. Also, I have held meeting with our teachers, which is
our tradition at the beginning of a new session or term.
“Similarly, the students have started receiving lessons but the
turnout is quite poor,” she disclosed.
In her reaction, the Principal of Sheik Abdulquadri College, Ilorin,
Hajia Kareem Mariam Omolara said in order to encourage attendance and
to prepare the students for the new academic session, a welcome test
was conducted.
Also, the Vice Principal (Admin) of Government Day Secondary School,
Ilorin, Alhaji AbdulRaheem advised all the students that are yet to
resume to report back in school immediately.
In her response, the Principal, Government High School (Senior
Section), Adeta, Alhaja Kamilat Salimat, decried the poor turnout of
students on the first day of resumptions saying only less than 30 of
the school population turned up.
The turnout notwithstanding, Alhaja Salimat said lessons commenced
immediately on the first day of resumption.
Speaking with our intern, the Principal of Ahbabu Deen Islam College,
Offa Garage area, Ilorin, Mrs Suliyat Yusuf, said, “Not all the
students have turned up in school this first week but my advice is
that they should take their studies seriously by resuming as early as
possible.”
Speaking with this medium in her office on Wednesday, the Permanent
Secretary, Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Hajia
Maryam Garuba said, officials of the ministry went round schools for
monitoring and to ensure compliance.
“Just as you noticed, we equally observed that there was low turnout.
However, you can attribute the low turn out to a few reasons; our JSS
1 students are yet to resume because their Common Entrance examination
selection will be coming up this Friday. Equally, the SS1 students,
many of them are just collecting scratch cards to check their Basic
Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results. Thirdly, the
returning students, from the interviews conducted, we discovered that
many parents are talking about financial burden of their wards. Many
of them are waiting for the end of the month to buy new school
uniforms, textbooks and exercise books for their children and to
equally kit them up. These are some of the reasons which affected the
turnout of pupils and students for the first week.”