The Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) says it has selected about 120 primary schools for agriculture education programme, where it trained pupils on poultry and farming skills.
The Executive Chairman of the board, Dr Kabir Magaji, made the disclosure at a press briefing, on Thursday in Katsina.
He said under the programme, one per cent of the matching grant was set aside as requirement of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) utilisation funding.
“We cannot carryout the programme in all the schools we have, but we have selected 120 schools, where we trained pupils on poultry and farming skills.
“There is a criteria before a school can access the funds. After a school meets the requirements, we give it some fund, while some officers monitor the programme to ensure its success,” he said
Magaji said that the essence of the programme was to enable children acquire poultry and farming skills at tender age.
He said that the desk officers purchase broiler chicks, construct cages, other expenses, and prepare farmland for the farming entrepreneur skills with the funds.
According to him, when the chickens attain maturity, they will be sold to interested staff of those particular schools at affordable rates on a loan revolving scheme.
Magaji identified difficulty in the loan recovery from the beneficiaries as one of the challenges of the programme.
The chairman said that the board had purchased and distributed about 3,000 broiler chicks to those schools in the state.
He further revealed that the board expended about N48 million on the programme towards assisting the pupils to become self-reliant.
Magaji also said that the board distributed sports equipment to selected 120 schools in the state.
The chairman noted that the schools also benefitted from free distribution of 200 sets of jerseys, boots, 100 volleyballs and handballs to encourage sporting activities among the pupils.(NAN).
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