The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has reported an impressive turnout of both students and teachers in public and private schools on the first day of school resumption for the second term of the 2023/2024 academic session, following the conclusion of the 2023 Christmas yuletide holidays.
(Nigeria’s primary and secondary school academic calendar is split into three (3) terms, which make up one academic year or session.)
This was disclosed when the FCT Secretary for Education, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, led the Education Secretariat management team on a visitation and inspection tour to some schools in the nation’s capital city on Monday, January 8, 2024.
The team’s first port of call was the Government Science and Technical College (GSTC), Area 3, followed by Government Secondary School, Tundun-Wada, and Glisten Group of Schools, Jahi, respectively.
Hayyo, while fielding questions from news reporters, said the team observed that almost all the students and teachers were back and ready for learning.
“From all indications, the teachers resumed and are ready to work. The students are also ready for learning.
It means teaching and learning are taking place; that’s the essence of our coming here: to make sure school resumes properly.
Lesson plans and lesson notes are all ready. And from all indications, teachers are anxious to work.
Turnout for the first day of resumption was encouraging. I expected to see a low attendance rate, considering the Christmas and New Year break, since a lot of students travelled with their families out of Abuja.
But, fortunately for us, almost all the students are back and are ready for learning,” he observed.
He added that part of the aim of the inspection was to identify some challenges of the schools in order to effectively address them.
“We have seen and taken note of all the problems facing schools.
We are going to take back to the Honorable Minister, since education is one of the key priority areas of this administration.
The minister promised that the sector will be given special consideration.
That’s why in the 2023 budget the sum of 13.1 billion naira was approved to be spent on renovations, construction, and provision of chairs and furniture for schools in the FCT, which is very encouraging,” he stated.
A Call to Duty
Furthermore, the FCT Secretary for Education, Dr. Danlami Hayyo, encouraged the teachers to be more dedicated to duty.
“I like to call the attention of the teachers to continue with their dedication to duty, because we’re not going to leave any stone unturned.
When we discover a school where teachers are ready but students are not present or the turnout of the students is low, definitely we are going to change the administration of the school.
We are going to bring some capable hands that can lead, because, like I said earlier, one of the priorities of the minister is education. We can’t wait until the minister sees something bad before we take action. Definitely, we are going to curb the problem,” said Dr Hayyo.
Mr Akor Joseph, the Principal of Government Secondary School, Tudun-Wada, also remarked: “We are just back from the Christmas holidays, and most of these students travelled with their parents. That’s why you see this number of students.”
