For education in Taraba State, the harvest
season is here. And it has never had it so
good. One major signpost of the good times is
the state’s performance in the West African
School Certificate Examination (WASCE) last
year. It scored 67.3 per cent, the best score
recorded by the state in over 25 years of its
history. It came on the heels of the magic
touch which the educational sector in the
state is currently experiencing under the
leadership of Governor Darius Dickson Ishaku.
That this happened despite the dislocation
caused to schools and life generally by the
series of communal crises of the time previous
to the coming of the present administration
underscores the huge amount of effort that
went into the revival of the educational system
in the first one year of the Ishaku
administration. It is also a signal of hope that
greater things are in the offing for education
and other areas of socio-economic
development for the state.
What was achieved last year is a big contrast
with the situation the administration inherited
when it came into office in 2015. In that year,
the state had no WASCE result. The
government of that time was unable to help
its students settle their WASCE fees which it
had promised to pay and the foremost
examination body withheld the state’s results.
In the years preceding that incident, the story
was only slightly better. The state recorded
low performances. At no point in time before
last year did it record anything above 48
percent score in WASCE. But the new Ishaku
administration rejected that annual ritual of
dismal WASCE results and insisted that things
must change.
Things, indeed, changed but only after the
Governor had read the Riot Act to teachers
and school administrators in the state. He
assured them that his administration had
come with a more pragmatic attitude to the
development of education and demanded that
they played their roles with a greater sense of
dedication and patriotism. He followed this up
with series of workshops and training
programmes for head teachers and later for
teachers and administrators in the educational
chain. The programmes exposed participants
to modern methods of record keeping, tests
and measurement of performances of teachers
and students, how to organise result-oriented
programmes and maintain discipline generally
in schools.
Teachers in Taraba State are now constantly
on their toes and so are their students. The
new attitude in education has become
infectious. This has impacted positively in the
number of indigenes of the state gaining direct
admission into Taraba State University. Before
now, the state could hardly fill its admission
quota there. Most of the students had to take
the longer route that remedial studies offered.
The new attitude in education in Taraba is a
product of the realisation that education is the
cornerstone of human development. Jigem
Johanes, Commissioner for Education in
Taraba State, said: “It is my most fulfilling
moment since I have been in the education
sector. Governor Ishaku will be remembered
glowingly in future as the Governor who made
the most positive and remarkable contribution
to the development of education in Taraba
State.”
Education in Taraba is a pleasant story of
magical recovery from neglect and communal
crises that had held the state prostrate. Many
schools in Gasol, Wukari, Bali, Ibi and to some
extent, Gashaka, were closed down for many
months as a result of persistent crises.
Teachers and students fled their towns and
villages and education virtually collapsed. It
took the pragmatic steps and effort of
Governor Ishaku for peace to be achieved and
for the schools to re-open. Governor Ishaku
ordered the erection of security checkpoints on
the roads to these towns and villages and
even on roads leading to the educational
institutions. Emirs and village heads were also
drafted into the apparatus for the maintenance
of peace and security in educational
institutions in their domains at the instance of
the governor.