Ali Abare, Gombe
Well over 2,000 students, mostly from states in the North East ravaged by the Boko Haram insurgency, are currently benefiting from scholarship under the Safe School Initiative programe supervised by the Presidential Committee on North East Initiative (PCNI) across 43 schools in the northern part of the country.
Vice Chairman of the Initiative, Alhaji Tijjani Musa Tumsa, disclosed this while on a routine visit to the Federal Government Girls College (FGGC) Bajoga, Gombe State.
Tumsa said the PCNI team was in the school to monitor and evaluate the students’ performance in FGGC Bajoga.
On arrival at the school, the PCNI team interacted first with the school authorities before meeting with the benefiting students, 11 in number, drawn from Borno, Yobe and Adamawa states.
“The purpose of the visit is to carry out a monitoring and evaluation exercise. It a PCNI routine to monitor and evaluate the performance of the students here in FGGC Bajoga,” he said.
He described the level of adjustment by the student as tremendous adding that he was impressed with their performance so far.
Tumsa said the students were expected to go through school normally and to perform creditably so that the scholarship they enjoy would not only be beneficial to them but their communities and country at large.
He told the school management that they were there to find out how the students are faring, their challenges and success stories.
Earlier in a welcome address, Principal of the school, Mrs. Charity Habu Wakawa, told the visitors that she barely assumed office having been newly posted.
Commenting on the SSI program in the school, Kamalludeen Towolawi, Vice Principal (Administration), told the PCNI team that 12 students were enrolled in the programme in 2014, with only one student failing to turn up after being asked to repeat a class.
Towolawi said one other student currently in SSSIII, has gone home on a one-week break preparatory to writing the SSCE exams. He said ten students were on ground to meet the team.
He assured that the welfare of the students was given top priority.
The PCNI team later interacted with the students with a view to assessing the programme in terms of whether they receive proper feeding, have constant power supply, access quality medical care among others.
Recall that the SSI was established in 2014 with a view to providing secure school environment for girl-childs from communities devastated by Boko Haram insurgency to continue with their education.