Gov El-Rufai registers his little boy in public primary school

In line with his promise to enrol one of his children in public primary school, Gov. Nasir El-Rufa’i on Monday enrolled his 6-year-old son, Abubakar into primary one in Capital School Malali, Kaduna.

Governor El-Rufai had during a statewide broadcast in 2017 promised to enrol Abubakar in public primary school when he turns 6 years.

According to him, “The move is part of the ongoing reforms to revamp public schools in the state to make them more competitive.

“As we make progress, we will require our senior officials to enrol their children in public schools.

“We are determined to fix public education and raise their standards so that private education will become only a luxury.

“And I will by personal example ensure that my son will be six years of age in 2019 will be enrolled in a public school in Kaduna State, by God’s grace,” El-Rufa’i had said.

In an interview with journalists in kaduna after he enrolled the child, El-Rufa’i explained that it was a commitment that had been fulfilled.
“I went to a public school like this. In fact, the school I went to is not as good as this one, but here I am, because of the quality of teaching I got.

“I made that commitment because I believe that it is only when all political leaders have their children in public schools that we will pay due attention to the quality of public education.

“My intention is to ensure that all our public schools offer quality education, and so we are encouraging all our senior public servants to send their children to public schools.

“Once the public schools are improved to a point they are nearly as good or even better than private schools, no one will waste his money taking his child to private school,” he said.

Ummi El-Rufa’i, the mother of the child said: “l am glad that we are able to send a strong message to our leaders and the elites, that we need to start making things work from within our homes.

“By the time we start attending public hospitals and send our children to public schools, the system will get better. This is a very huge step,” she said.

On his part, the little child said: “I am sad that I will miss my old school, my friends and my teachers. But I have to help my father keep his promise”