The education committee of the Bauchi State House of Assembly said it had discovered 44 fake National Certificate of Education (NCE) awarding institutions in the state.

A report of the committee presented to the Assembly on Thursday said out of 57 NCE-awarding institutions in the state, only 13 were accredited by the National Council for Colleges of Education.

The committee, during its familiarisation visit to institutions and agencies in the state, said most of the NCE-awarding institutions in the state had not met the standards requires for such courses.

“There is proliferation of NCE-awarding institutions in Bauchi State. “We have noted that there are more than 57 NCE-awarding institutions in the State.

“In Bauchi Metropolis alone, there are 27 NCE awarding institutions, and only 13 are accredited by National Council for Colleges of Education in the state,” the committee said.

The report of the committee also noted that the State Universal Basic Education Board had usurped the powers and functions of sister agencies such as Teachers’ Service Commission (TSC), Bauchi State Agency for Mass Education (BASEMA) and Bauchi State Agency for Nomadic Education in the areas of recruitment, promotion and discipline.

The committee recommended that the state government be called upon to live up to its constitutional responsibility of providing quality education to its citizens.

The house also called on the state government to ensure that percentages of deductions from statutory revenues accruing to it and the 20 local government areas are properly deducted and given to the tertiary institutions in accordance with the law establishing them.

The House committee also lamented that government had in the past abdicated its statutory responsibilities of proper funding of education by allowing non-governmental organisations to take it over, and expressed satisfaction with the reforms currently going on in the ministry of education headed by the commissioner, Dr. Aliyu Tilde.

It also called for the sustenance of the reforms currently going on in the ministry of education, arguing that it should be carried out in such a manner that will not trample on individual rights of officers.

The committee further commended that the government ensure the fencing of all boarding secondary schools in order to safeguard students against intruders and theft of government properties, even as it called for the recruitment of more teachers for primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in the state.

(Leadership)

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