Abia State Government has abolished graduation ceremonies organised by private schools for Nursery and Primary school pupils and Secondary students who are not in exiting classes.
Also abolished by the State Government is the compulsory combination of textbook and workbook by publishers to make it impossible for younger siblings to make use of such textbooks.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu disclosed this on Monday, at Government House, Umuahia while briefing Journalists on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti.
He explained that the decisions on graduation ceremonies and combination of textbook with workbook are part of decisions taken by education stakeholders involving the state heads of basic education, officials of WAEC, NECO, NUT, ANCOPS, ETA, publishers, NAMSAN, recently.
He said that the state government has agreed that going forward, graduation ceremonies in the schools would only be limited to primary 6 pupils and SS3 students.
“All these graduation ceremonies are creating a deep hole in the pockets of parents across the state, so they took that decision to ensure that parents stop complaining in that regard,” Prince Kanu stated.
Prince Kanu announced that government has adjusted postings of the newly recruited teachers to suit those who made complaints about the places they were posted for various reasons.
He informed that the state government has concluded the two weeks intensive training organised for the newly recruited teachers in the state to equip them for the 21st century teaching. He added that renovations and construction of public schools are ongoing, and at different stages of completion at 63 schools across the state.
“All these interventions underscore the state government’s commitment to creating and sustaining a conducive living environment that will position Abia State as a leading centre of education excellence in the country.
“Only a few days ago, the Ministry conducted a general visit on a facility tour of 63 public schools across the state that are undergoing renovations and retrofitting. These school projects, from the findings and various levels of intervention, ranging from block works to roofing and painting in some cases, ” Prince Kanu stated.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi announced that the final and updated posting of the newly recruited teachers would be published tomorrow (Tuesday) this week.
“By tomorrow, we’re going to make public the adjustments so far made. We did our best to address all the areas of challenge as indicated by the various and concerned teachers.
“There are so many schools that are difficult to access. But one thing is that our children are also in these schools, and we can’t just leave them. People must be posted to these areas.
“But what the government has done is to provide some level of incentive, meaning that those who will willingly choose to go to such places to serve will have some encouragement in the form of cash incentive,” Elder Ubochi stated.
Elder Ubochi further noted that the decisions of education stakeholders to the effect that only pupils and students of exiting classes should hold graduation ceremony and, that textbooks should be separated from workbook to enable siblings make use of textbooks used by their elder ones are being considered by the State Executive Council.
“Major decisions were taken as it had to do with the economy of our parents. So we limited the graduation ceremonies to only those who are exiting one level of education or the other, primarily since there could be graduation.
“Then the next would be those exiting the secondary school education by secondary. There could be a celebration for them. But those of them in nursery school have not known how such kids will be subjected to graduation and big graduation gowns will be made.
“Another thing that would also impress parents is the issue of textbooks. It’s another thing that publishers would combine both the textbook and the workbook. Which means that by the time a child ends a particular class with a given textbook, that textbook cannot be used by any other person.
“So we decided that the publishers should separate the textbook from the workbook. So the workbook would be used for an assignment for a given child, whereas the textbook would remain relevant for as many people, as many younger ones as would have access to that,” Elder Ubochi explained.
The Commissioner added that the government encourages parents to make sure that they pick the basic education certificates of their children. He said that schools would not charge more than 2,000 Naira for collection of primary 6 and basic education certificates while that of
secondary school would not be more than 4,000 Naira.
The Commissioner for Health Professor Enoch Ogbonnaya Uche Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma were present at the briefing.
