By Muawuya Bala Idris, Katsina
The Katsina State Statistician-General, Professor Saifullahi Matazu, has described the Annual School Census as a critical tool for evidence-based planning and decision-making in the education sector.
Professor Matazu stated this during a strategic planning meeting held in preparation for the 2025/2026 Katsina Annual School Census.
He explained that data generated from the exercise would guide the development of effective operational plans for the next academic session.
According to him, the school census would also provide reliable statistics on the number of out-of-school children in the state, enabling government and development partners to design targeted interventions.
“The Annual School Census assists government and development partners to design effective interventions in areas that require urgent attention in the education sector,” he said.
The Statistician-General noted that the 2025/2026 school census would complement the existing data from the Tsangaya census recently conducted in the state.
He added that, to ensure the success of the forthcoming exercise, the government had trained officers of the Education Management Information System (EMIS) responsible for data collection and management.
Professor Matazu further disclosed that a dedicated monitoring dashboard would be established at the State Ministry of Education and the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to enable real-time monitoring of the census exercise.
In his remarks, the Katsina State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Yusuf Jibia, commended members of the School Census Steering Committee for their resilience, professionalism, and commitment towards producing reliable education data.
He urged them to maintain high standards and work towards making the Katsina Annual School Census one of the best in the country.
