By Ajuma Edwina Ameh
Following the abduction and killing of a five-year-old pupil, Hanifa Abubakar, by the proprietor of her school, Noble Kids School, Kano,
the State Government says it has revoked the operational licences of all private schools in the state with immediate effect.
Persecondnews.com had reported that the proprietor of the school, Abdulmalik Tanko, was arrested by the police for abducting, killing and burying Hanifa, in a shallow grave in the school premises, located at Kwanar Dakata in Nassarawa local government area of Kano.
Hanifa was kidnapped on December 2, 2021, by Tanko who recently confessed to committing the heinous crime and led police officers to the school premises where the remains of Hanifa were buried in a shallow grave.
According to reports, Tanko only rented the building to run his school as the structure belongs to another person.
In response to the gruesome killing, the State’s Commissioner for Education, Sanusi Saidu Kiru, who announced during a press conference in Kano on Monday, said effecting the measure was necessary to checkmate the disturbing cases of rape of school children by some proprietors.
He further warned that the government will take punitive action against the proprietor of any private school that is neck deep in such despicable act.
He said: “We are really disturbed by persistent cases of rape among school children. We have recently been furnished by a report that a proprietor of a private school was caught raping a minor, and made a self-confession to the effect that he had committed the offence.
“This time around, Hanifa’s incident came to the fore. No responsible government would continue to pay lip service to these heinous acts. We are going to take a punitive action against any proprietor of a private school who became enmeshed in this despicable act.
“Government has out rightly taken the decision to revoke the licences of all the private schools operating in the state for sanity to prevail. We are going to establish a high powered committee to thoroughly screen all the private schools we have in the state. We can only give another chance to those we have been found to be clean and meet the standard required.
“What we have done is meant to instill confidence in the minds of parents that there must be a safety net put in place for their children.
“We are telling owners of all private schools that there is the compelling need for them to revalidate their licences for their future operations to be feasible and in line with the procedures and laws governing their conduct.”
Kiru announced that a special committee would be set up to assess the schools and come up with measures in assessing schools in the state, adding that schools that do not meet the new requirements will not be reopened.
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