The Abia State government has established an Education Marshals to enforce its compulsory free basic education policy, enacted this month.
The information commissioner, Okey Kanu, stated this while briefing the press in Umuahia, the capital, on the outcome of this week’s Executive Council meeting, which Governor Alex Otti chaired.
“The marshals will be assisted by the state’s harmonised task force and other necessary community stakeholders to enforce this critical policy,” he asserted.
Contributing, his counterpart for the Ministry of Primary and Basic Education, Goodluck Ubochi said the marshals would be involved in picking out-of-school children during school hours.
According to him, the marshals will use such a child to locate either the parent, guardian or whoever had been keeping the child out of school and the reason behind it.
“With this, we can determine the reason for keeping the child out of school. You know we have a law that protects the child, and anybody that violates the law will be called to order.”
“And that is what the education marshalls are out to do to ensure the policy succeeds. So, if anyone violates the child’s right, we will call the person to order in a mild form,”
“Thereafter, the child will be registered in the nearest school to him or her in line with the governor’s directive that every child of school age in the state must benefit from the policy,” he said.
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