We will prosecute and arrest parents of “out-of-school” children – Governor Ganduje

We will prosecute and arrest parents of "out-of-school" children - Governor Ganduje

Kano State Governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, has said that parents who refuse to send their children to school will now be arrested and prosecuted.

Ganduje made this known during an interactive session with UNICEF Youth Advocacy in Government House.

The governor said his administration and that of the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II have concluded plans to send a bill to the state House of Assembly to that effect.

He said that the bill will ensure that primary and secondary education in the state will come at no cost and will be compulsory for all school-age children.

Ganduje said that “with the bill signed into law, parents who refused to take their children to go to school will be taken to court.

“Children begging on the street instead of going to school will be arrested and their parents arrested and charge to court for prosecution because begging is not our religion. Begging is not Islam. Those children who are begging will be arrested and their parents will be taken to court for allowing their children to be begging instead of attending school.”

The governor further noted that his administration has made sure over 30, 000 primary and secondary school teachers get qualified certificates.

He further stated that the state has less than three percent, unqualified teachers, “and we are ensuring that they go back to school for their qualified certificate.”

He added, “We hope you as development partners when we are being accused by mischievous people; we want you to come forward and defend us. Anything we do for the development of education, if we receive undue criticism, I urge you to demonstrate and we will give you protection. That is the only way we can get a change. Otherwise, all that we are doing will remain theoretical.”

“I wish what is happening now happened 20 years ago. It would have been a different story by now. Kano state is the most populous state in the federation. We want our population to be a quality population. There are some countries in the world that don’t have a drop of oil, but yet their economy is strong. The main reason is education, even development, and technology.

“So, we being the most populous state in the world, we want our population to be an asset. As China has conquered the world as a result of the population that is how Kano will conquer Nigeria as a result of population.”