One of noblest legacies to be bequeathed any society is to provide them with opportunities in education. And so it was when the Katsina state government established the College of education Dutsinma as part of efforts to improve teacher training in the state which at that time was facing a serious dilemma.
Since its establishment several governments that came had tried to improve both the infrastructures as well as the academic standard of the institution to the level that many states in the federation had preferred to send their students to Dutsinma than the sister Federal College in the capital city. This was because of the quality of education that is available in the institution as well as discipline and the conducive environment that separates the institution and made it a citadel of learning not only in the state but in the federation as a whole.
This wonderful experience has since been relegated to the background since the advent of the present administration in the college. What is obtainable now is that the college has been turned into a drainpipe that is used to siphon the meager resources available in the institution.
Example of this daylight downward dilapidation of both the infrastructures and the quality of learning since 2000 became evident when the present leadership in the institution began to convert the development of the institution into personal fiefdom. For example; several projects constructed by the government of former President Umar Yaradua when he was the Governor in the states we’re today being corruptibly converted into new projects in collaboration with officials at the education Trust Fund- ETF in order to siphon the funds for personal aggrandizement. Example of some of the projects converted were: the old store constructed by the then Governor which is today reprinted and named as a new ETF project. This store was constructed in 2000 to serve as a store for the institution but is fraudulently renovated and converted into a 100 seater internet cafe and it’s name changed as a new ETF project.
Recently, the present Katsina state government under the able leadership of Governor Ibrahim Shema ordered for the purchase and installation of a 500 KVA generator to provide the students alternative to the ever non available PHCN light unfortunately old and dead generators were supplied and installed. They did not last few weeks before they collapse and today the institution is without light while the students could not read in e night even during examinations.
Apart from the decaying infrastructures in the institution cases of rapes, corruption and moral decay in the institution have been allowed to persist without the college authorities doing anything about it while it is a common knowledge that at a time the institution is finding it hard to operate its operators are becoming richer by the day.
The small space given to me will not enable me to listing all the problems bedeviling the college however I would like to draw the attention of the Executive Governor of Katsina state Ibrahim Shehu Shema that the staff and students of the institution are aware of your commitment to the growth of the college however, those handed with the responsibility of taking the college to greater heights have abandon the task and resorted to personal aggrandizement. We want to call on His Excellency to immediately investigate the decay in the college with a view to bringing back the former glory of the college.
Ibrahim Kabir Dutsinma, College of education Dutsinma.
