Old students of the Bauchi state College of Arts and Science (BACAS) Tuesday called for the revival of the Basic Studies School (SBS) system to prepare students from educationally disadvantaged areas for admission into the Nigerian universities.
The call was made during the golden jubilee celebration and reunion of BACAS old students at the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU), Bauchi.
Presenting a paper titled: “Fifty Years of BACAS: Celebrating Our Heritage, Our Achievements and the Lessons Before Us,” journalist and former BACAS student, Muhammad Musa-Gombe, recalled that the concept of the SBS was proposed by the late Brigadier Musa Usman, then governor of the former North-Eastern state at a meeting of the Interim Common Services Agency (ICSA).
He said the initiative and setting up of the School of Basic Studies, Zaria, subsequently led to the establishment of similar schools in Bauchi, Niger, Cross River, Borno, Yola and other parts of the country. The schools offered two-year preparatory programmes for prospective university students, with the Interim Joint Matriculation Examination (IJME), introduced by Ahmadu Bello University, serving as the terminal examination.
Musa-Gombe regretted that the schools were later abolished by the states and urged governments, individually or collectively, to consider re-establishing them in a modern form to bridge educational gaps and improve university opportunities for students from disadvantaged areas.
