Don’t Fear Victimisation, Say The Truth, Zulum Tells Principal
Borno State Governor, Prof. Babagana Zulum, has pleaded with principals of secondary schools in the state to tell him the truth about the state and administration of public schools. The governor, who hosted 84 principals of public schools at the Government House, Maiduguri, on Sunday, to find solutions to the problems bedevilling education in the state, asked the head teachers not to nurse the fear of victimisation for saying truth about state of education. He said “Education is the bedrock of any development. Without a functional education system, we shall continue to experience this Boko Haram insurgency in Borno. Look at the kind of students we are graduating from our public secondary schools, most of them do not qualify for admission into universities, even those, who get admitted, find it very difficult to cope. I assure you that telling me the truth will not lead to anything happening to any of you by God’s grace.”
Most of the principals, who spoke, complained about the poor quality of primary school leavers, who come into secondary schools without a strong foundation. They urged the governor to critically look at the reintroduction of common entrance examination at the primary school level, which should be the yardstick for admission into secondary schools. Zulum directed them to write down all the problems for submission to him within one week. He also directed the immediate reintroduction of common entrance examination at the primary six level.