Parents of students in Taraba State are withdrawing their children from public primary and secondary schools for lack of infrastructure and learning materials as promised by the state government in July 2023.
Governor, Agbu Kefas had on riday, July 7, 2023 while undergoing an assessment tour of public primary and secondary schools in Wukari local government area of the state, declared free education in the state’s primary and secondary schools.
The governor had stated that the action was to mitigate the effect of the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu and reinstated his administration’s commitment to immediately begin massive renovation of the schools to meet modern standards.
The declaration convinced parents both within and outside the state to remove their children from private schools to enroll them in the state’s public schools to enjoy the promised infrastructures and learning materials.
Having waited for over three terms of the school calendar without any improvements in the schools, most parents decided to withdraw their children to re-enroll them back to the private schools where they were taken from, lamenting the poor condition of learning in the public schools in the state.
Parents who spoke with our correspondent declared the congestion of students in classrooms at the primary and secondary schools, stating that some of the schools accommodate students under trees for their lessons.
“One class contained more than 100 students. No writing material such as desks and chairs; students sit on the floor and for me, I cannot subject my children to that level of condition. That’s why I withdrew them to a better school to learn under a conducive atmosphere,” a parent, Peter Moove, told LEADERSHIP Weekend.
Governor Kefas confirmed the poor state of public school infrastructures in the state on Wednesday when he paid an unscheduled visit to Government Day Secondary School Howai, Mai Six Jalingo.
He accused the state commissioner for Education, Dr. Augustina Godwin of delaying the implementation of the free education project in the state.
The governor who was visibly upset when he sighted the number of overcrowded students in classes at the school said, “we are ready to construct modern classrooms for the students across all schools in the state. A situation where we have over 100 students in one class is unacceptable. The commissioner for education is the one delaying us; we want 30 students per class.
“We want teachers to know their students by names. This is not the type of education we want our children to have. The contractors are ready to commence executions.”
Some of the parents who withdrew their children from the public schools dismissed the governor’s lamentations during the visit, stating that it is a pronouncement taken too long without implementation.
“The governor made the declaration of free education since last year. He promised free uniforms, free shoes, free books and even free buses that will be conveying students to schools. Up till now, none of the promises has been fulfilled. We can’t continue to waste our children’s time; we have to take them to where they can get quality education,” another parent, Yankson Aondo, stated.
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