BIRTH OF THE SCHOOL

Being part of the speech given by Malam Nuhu Bayero Dan-lyan Zazzau, senior consultant at the Institute of Administration, ABU, Zaria and Pro-Chancellor of Lagos University on the Speech Day and Prize Giving Ceremony of Government Secondary School, Kuru, 25th November, 1972.

On March 28, 1940, I was standing by Miss A. M. Locke the Superintendent C. M. S. Hausa District, when mails were brought to her. She opened the bag and got out a letter from Mr. F. D. Hibbert, the Plateau Provincial Education Officer, in Jos, asking the Mission to give him someone who would start a Senior Primary School at Pankshin.

She threw the letter at me and asked whether I was interested I picked up the letter, read it and without any consideration, said yes, I was.

I left Zaria for Jos and Pankshin after the usual preparations on April 8, 1940, On my arrival at the boundary between Zaria and Jos there was a shower of rain which lasted about ten minutes until I got right in to Jos Division., that to me, was a sign of good luck because it was not yet rainy season. I arrived at Jos and Pankshin and found that students had been recruited from all over the Plateau but the buildings and staff quarters, especially my house were not completed and so they were housed in a Primary School where they remained for eight months. When the buildings were completed the Senior Primary called Pankshin Central School was opened in January, 1941 and I was the first headmaster it consisted of a remove class of 36 students.

In 1942 we had another Remove class and the first one became middle one; in 1943, middle one became middle two and at the end of the, session the boys took Kaduna College entrance examination and one boy, Woshi Do, passed and left for Kaduna in 1944.

The school then continued to grow very fast and at the end of every year Middle Two Students were either sent to Kaduna College or Keffi Secondary School, if they passed or distributed among the various Middle Schools in the country like Yola, Bauchl, Zaria and Okenem for further studies.

In 1947, I left for a year’s course at the Institute of Education London University and Mr. T. N. Redford was sent to act as Headmaster.

On my return in 1948, Mr. Redford was transferred to Kaduna and towards the end of the year Mr. J Flockhart a temporary Education Officer was posted to work with me in Pankshin in 1949 the school was renamed Plateau Central School instead of Pankshin Central School.

It was decided that the School be up-graded to a Middle School at Pankshin but in the course of discussion it was discovered that Pankshin was not a suitable place for a middle school due, mainly to lack of means of communication and other things and so it was decided to put it up at Kuru. Jos Local Authority welcomed the idea and the P. E. O. Mr. Flockhart and I came and together with late Chief of Jos, Rwang Pam and chose this place for the Middle School. The work was given as contract to Taylor Woodrow and by the end of 1950, the buildings were completed and we then moved from Pankshin to here on the 21st February, 1951 bag and baggages from Pankshin and arrived between four and five o’clock in the afternoon by lorries.

In the same year 1951 the School was up-graded to a Middle School with the class IV students who took the final Middle IV examination at the end of the year and obtained 100 % success.

At the end of 1952 Mr. John Flockhard was transferred to Bida and in 1953 Mr. R. Roy was sent to take his place, he was also Temporary Education Officer, Mr. Flockhard, Roy and I and the teachers worked hard to put the school on a very sound foundation. I must mention here that among the pioneers was Mallam Graba Ojo who is still here with your and who joined the school in 1942 at Pankshin, just two years after my arrival. Malam Sani Gordon came in 1941 but when we moved to Kuru he left the Local Authority and joined Government and was sent to Toro Teachers Training College.

I stayed on with the school as Headmaster until 1954 October, 8th when I was transferred to be the Headmaster to Zaria Middle School. Mr. Zakariyya Dimka acted as Headmaster until 1955 when the was School up-graded to a Secondary School and Mr. T Roberts was brought in as Principal.

The last time I was here was in 1958 when only the Assembly Hall and some staff houses were added to what I left to the buildings. The progress so far made is tremendous, the good foundation laid down is still being maintained all round and that made the School one of the best Secondary Schools in the Country.

One other thing that the School ought to continue being proud of is the fact that it was the first School in the North to admit student of various ethnic groups and of different religions and to have lived in complete peace, love and harmony with one another.

The experiment succeeded and is still succeeding wonderfully well illustrating that unity, which the country so much desires, now has existed in this school for thirty-six year.

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The Birth of Science School Kuru by Malam Nuhu Bayero Dan-lyan Zazzau in 1972