On Friday, Mr. Aliyu Tilde, the commissioner for education for the state of Bauchi, announced that plans to separate male and female students in the state’s secondary schools had been finalized.
He revealed this while addressing reporters after the State Executive Council (SEC) meeting.
Tilde clarified, however, that the action would only be taken when and where it was feasible.
He clarified that the goal was to combat moral decay, which had become pervasive among secondary school students.
The students, including those in private institutions, would be divided, he said, with the males attending their academic activities in one facility and the females in a different, separate institution, whenever it was possible.
The commissioner went on to say that, in cases where they couldn’t be totally segregated, they would sit in a such that the males would take up one side of a classroom and the girls the other.
“The most important thing is that we don’t want to undo the progress that we have made in the past on girl-child education by allowing this trend to continue.
“We came up with an idea, let us extend that 1978 abrogation of core education policy to cover our day secondary schools as well, wherever and whenever it is possible.
“Wherever is possible is talking about the geography and whenever is possible is talking about the distribution in time. That is, maybe it is possible tomorrow or not in terms of separating them completely.
“Wherever is possible is where perhaps we have two-day secondary schools within the same vicinity, we’ll allocate one to girls and the other to boys,” he said.
Additionally, Tilde stated that parents will be overjoyed about the change and that even those who were hesitant to allow their children to continue on to Senior Secondary School levels would be urged to do so.
He continued by saying that the approach might increase student retention in schools.
However, it seems the students are not happy with the new arrangement as they took to the streets on Monday to demonstrate against the state government’s decision.
Students from the majority of the secondary schools marched down main avenues to the Emir’s Palace and the Ministry’s offices to express their displeasure.
Speaking to journalists, some of them claimed that the new approach would cause pupils to fall behind in terms of social interaction and depict them as immature people.
The protesting students also criticized the Education Ministry for not including them in the decision-making process, highlighting the fact that they also have a voice in decisions that will have an impact on them.
They are requesting that State Governor Sen. Bala Mohammed Abdulkadir look into the situation, reverse the decision, and return to the previous Co-educational system, which they claim fosters social contact.
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