The Kano government says it has stepped up its efforts to address the “deep-rooted” decay in the state’s education sector.

The education commissioner, Ali Makoda, disclosed this while addressing journalists in Kano on Wednesday.

Mr Makoda said Governor Abba Yusuf’s administration inherited a “failed and decayed education system”, prompting it to take tangible steps to improve infrastructure, personnel quality and access to education.

Mr Yusuf, of the NNPP, took over the reins of power from Abdullahi Ganduje, of the APC.

Such steps, he said, included a significant increase in the budgetary allocation to the education sector from 29.75 per cent in the 2024 financial year to 31.5 per cent in the 2025 fiscal year.

Makoda said this testified to the administration’s renewed commitment to revitalising primary and secondary education across the state.

The commissioner, therefore, praised the administration’s “unprecedented political will” to address the deep-rooted decay in the education system.

Mr Makoda also disclosed that the state government had distributed about 800,000 school uniforms to primary one pupils across the state to ease the burden on parents.

Similarly, he said that instructional materials had been procured and distributed, and more than 100 schools were set to receive science and laboratory equipment in the coming days.

Mr Makoda also revealed that the state government had registered 10,000 indigent students for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, doubling the figure from the previous year.

The commissioner said this this cost the government N109 million, adding that the money had already been released.

He said that preparatory training for the beneficiaries was ongoing across all the 44 local government areas and 484 wards in the state.

According to Makoda, part of the government’s efforts to fix the sector is the training and retraining of teachers, with the government now conducting quarterly training sessions.

He said, “If you don’t improve the quality of teachers, then forget about quality education. Our team recently travelled to Abuja solely for this purpose. We are committed to ensuring that our pupils are taught by competent and well-equipped teachers.”

He then disclosed the administration’s achievements under the World Bank-supported Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment programme, citing the renovation of over 1,200 schools in the state.

According to him, an additional 130 schools are set for refurbishment in the coming weeks, with the procurement processes already underway.

“In addition to AGILE, the state government independently funded the construction of storey buildings and office blocks in several schools across the 44 local government areas,” Mr Makoda said.

He further revealed the construction of Angoro Junior Secondary School and the renovation of the Mariri School for internally displaced persons, each allocated N404 million.

(NAN)