Anambra State governor, Prof Chukwuma Soludo has stated that his administration supports mission schools in the state with the sum of N1billion monthly.
Soludo who said the gesture was to ensure qualitative education in all schools in the state, expressed regrets that findings by his government showed there were absence of primary schools in about 77 communities in the state.
The governor who made the disclosure in his address to mark Nigeria’s 64th Independence anniversary celebration at Ekwueme Square, Awka on the Independence Day anniversary restated his government’s declaration of full, free education in public schools, including nursery, primary, junior and senior secondary schools as he earlier announced last week.
He directed all parents who had paid school fees for their children or wards in senior secondary schools ahead of the declaration of the full, free education policy to go to the management of the schools where they paid for refund.
He also advised parents in communities where there were no primary schools, to go and enroll their children in neighbouring communities that have primary schools, pledging the commitment of his administration to establish primary schools in the affected communities as soon as possible.
Soludo said his administration has employed 8,115 teachers recruited through competitive tests to ensure provision of qualitative education in public schools in the state.
He said that some of the recruited teachers were even posted to the mission schools.
Soludo stated that the free education policy of his administration was to make sure that the children of the poor who were mostly in public schools, were given the ladder of opportunity which is qualitative education.
“If you give a child qualitative primary and secondary education, you’ve given a child the ladder to climb and conquer the rest of his or her life”, Soludo emphasised.
He said further, “Worth a mention is the 8,115 teachers that we have employed on a competitive basis and posted to our schools to end the era of schools without teachers. Yes!
“Last year, we announced and continued to implement zero fees, fines, and any levies of any sort to children from nursery through JSS 3 in public schools. And on Thursday, we decided not because we have the resources but because we prioritize our children.
“We announced that all public schools in Anambra will now be totally free in Anambra state. We have also announced that parents who have already paid school fees should go back and collect the fees they paid.
“We also emphasised that the state government will continue to subsidise the returned schools to the churches, their primary and secondary schools.
“As we speak, there are thousands of government teachers that have been posted to these missions or church schools, and it costs us over 1 billion naira every month to pay the salaries of these teachers. We hope that the partnership will continue.
“May l reiterate a point we made that day. We have discovered that there are actually 77 communities in Anambra state that do not have government primary schools. This is wrong. Something is wrong. The children of those communities must be given a choice; whether to go to a mission school or to a government school.
“It is the duty of the government to provide education to every child. It is not the duty of the church. Anybody else who is investing in education is helping the government to provide that. We are therefore calling for special partnerships for all these communities. Let’s work together.
“It is our target that within a few years, we should have public schools in all communities in Anambra, so the children can enjoy total free education as well.
“We are determined to close that gap. Education is the bridge to the future”, Soludo stated further.
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