The Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) has on Tuesday 10th September, 2019 donated school uniforms, books and other learning materials to the pupils of Shara Community School. The donation came barely a week to the start of 2019/2020 educational year and served as part of the sustainability move of the community school that was set up by the community members as a result of a project ‘Improving Access to Education through Community Mobilization’ that CITAD implemented in 2016/2017. During the project, CITAD found that Shara community with a population of over 3000 people including about 600 school age children had no school and their children were not attending school because the only school near them (at Matigwai) has to be reached by crossing a river which is not possible during the rainy season. Following a series of community consultations, the community with help from CITAD, set up a community school under a tree in 2017. The event took place at the school premises with key stakeholders in education sector from within and outside Sumaila local government.
Sagiru Ado Abubakar of the Center for Information Technology and Development (CITAD) opened the event with a brief history about the existence of the school and the effort made by CITAD to reach out to the critical education stakeholders in the state to provide the needed facilities since the public unveiling of the community school. He explained how their advocacy visit requests were ignored by Honorable Abdurrahman Kawu Sumaila, former Special Adviser to president Muhammad Buhari on Assembly Matters, and how discussion between community members under the lead of CITAD with Honorable Kabiru Ibrahim Gaya, Senator Kano South Senatorial District and Honorable Zubairu Hamza, Member State House of Assembly Sumaila/Takai Constituency did not yield any fruitful result.
Alh. Dayyabu Musa, spokesperson of the community appreciated the effort of CITAD for their commitment since the establishment of the school. He then expressed his worry about the situation of the school. In his words, “We recently heard over the radio the declaration of the Executive Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje on education, saying that education is now free and must in Kano Stateâ€. We questioned that how this declaration could be possible in Shara community without necessary toolsâ€?  Alh. Sabo Aliyu, Education Secretary, Sumaila Local Education Authority was represented at the event by Malam Muhktar Uba Sumaila. Mukhtar said that the setback recorded recently in the school was due to two important reasons. One, the teacher sent to Shara requested the Education Authority to release him to go back to school and we did that. With inadequate number of the teaching staff in the local government we are still battling to have his replacement. Secondly, since the establishment of the school, the community failed to establish School Community-Based Management Committee (SBMC) that will pursue the demands of the community school. To address the problems, he suggested the setting of a committee of 15 members as SBMC. This was accepted the committee was constituted on the spot. He asked the committee to visit him on Thursday 13th September, 2019 to register the school with local education authority. He then promised to include the school to be part of the UNICEF intervention program and school feeding program. He also promised after establishment of the SBMC to lead them to pay advocacy visit to the newly elected chairman of the local government.
At the end of the event, Alh Nura Mato thanked CITAD for their concern on the school. He said that Shara did not know any organization besides CITAD that has been committed toward helping them as far as education was concern.
