Francis Sardauna in Katsina

The Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Katsina State have called on the federal and state governments to increase the education budget to tackle the myriad of challenges besetting the sector.

They spoke at the 2025 state-level summit on education financing organised by Civil Society Action Coalition on Education for All (CSACEFA) last Saturday in Katsina.

With the theme: ‘The Role of the Government, the Community and CSOs in Protecting the Right to Education’, the one-day summit brought together members of the CSOs, stakeholders in the education sector,, and students.

Addressing the participants, the state Chairman of the Coalition of Civil Society Organisations, Abdulrahman Abdullahi, said the government should increase the education budget to address the challenges bedevilling the sector.

He lamented that most children are sitting on the bare floor to learn. “There is a need for improved budgeting for education to address this and other challenges. Parents should also support the government in funding education,” he stated.

He explained that complementary financing was key to improving and sustaining the education sector at all levels and should not be neglected by critical stakeholders and civil society organisations.

Also speaking, the former Chairman of CSOs in the state, Dr. Bashir Usman Ruwangodiya, advocated adequate funding for the education sector to tame the growing infrastructural deficit, manpower shortage,, and instructional and learning materials.

Ruwangodiya, a senior lecturer with the state-owned Hassan Usman Polytechnic, said all tiers of government should tackle what he termed inadequate funding, misappropriation,, and mismanagement of education funds to ensure effective utilisation for unrivalled results.

He urged all governments to desist from overdependence on foreign and development partners’ support for educational funding, adding, however, that parents should prioritise their children’s education too.

On her part, the Chairperson of High Level Women Advocates (HILWA), Hajiya Mariya Abdullahi, decried the spate of out-of-school children in the state, and called for more funding to boost enrolment, retention,, and completion.

She called for aggressive and revolving approaches by key stakeholders through mobilisation, awareness creation,, and sensitisation for the integration of the out-of-school children across the state.

Earlier, the Katsina State Coordinator of CSACEFA, Hussaini Sale, said the summit aimed at addressing critical issues surrounding education financing and the protection of the right to education.

He stressed that the summit also strengthened collaboration between the government, civil society organisations,, and communities towards educational development in Katsina State.

The coordinator further disclosed that: “It also aimed at engaging education stakeholders in fruitful discussions on education financing.”

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