JUST IN: ABIA GOVT ANNOUNCES FREE, COMPULSORY EDUCATION FOR CHILDREN
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Abia State Government has announced free and compulsory education for all children in the state irrespective of their state of origin.
The free education which will commence by January 2025 will run from primary one to Junior Secondary School three in all public schools.
Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu, who disclosed this while briefing the press after the State Executive Council meeting, said that parents and guardians who flouted the new policy would face prosecution.
“ In line with the Abia Child’s Rights Law 2006, it’s now an offence for parents not to send their children or wards to school because Government has made education free and compulsory”, Kanu warned.
The policy, according to him, is under the quest by the Gov. Alex Otti-led administration, to deliver quality and affordable education to the state.
He also said there was no going back on the proposed relocation of the Law Faculty of the Abia State University Umuahia campus back to Uturu main campus, explaining that the decision was taken in the overall public interest.
The Commissioner also announced that a contract had been awarded for the rehabilitation of nine additional roads in different parts of the state, and promised to provide details of the new road projects later.
He also disclosed that Government would attend to all issues arising from implementing the new minimum wage.
The Commissioner further said that the Governor had directed the Commissioner for Works to effect immediate repairs on the failed portion of the Osisioma ‘fly-over’ built by the immediate-past administration of Gov Okezie Ikpeazu.
Meanwhile, State government says it is now an offence for parents in the state not to send their children and wards to school starting from January 1, 2025.
The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu disclosed this at the Government House, Umuahia, on Monday while briefing journalists on the outcome of this week’s State Executive Council meeting by Governor Alex Otti.
Kanu, who said that the decision was part of the ongoing reforms in the educational sector of the state, stated that the issue of poverty is no longer a reason for the non-acquisition of free and basic education in Abia State.
He stressed the need for parents to take advantage of the tuition-free policy in the state to send their children and wards to school, warning that defaulting parents would be prosecuted in line with the Abia State Child’s Law 2006.
“In line with the Abia State Child’s Law 2006, it will now be an offence for parents not to send their children and wards to school in Abia State.
“Education is free in Abia State till the end of Junior Secondary School. There is no reason whatsoever why parents will not send their children to school.
“So, as from the first of January, 2025 when this policy will fully come into effect, defaulting parents will be prosecuted under that law,” he disclosed.
The Commissioner reiterated that the relocation order of the Umuahia campus of the Abia State University to the mother campus at Uturu remained irreversible but assured all affected stakeholders that fears and anxieties generated by the relocation order would be addressed.
He further stated that Governor Otti has directed the state Commissioner for Works to ensure that the failing flyover at Osisioma, constructed by the immediate past administration, is repaired without delay to safeguard the lives of Abians and other road users.
He regretted that “the ‘fly-over’ which is the signature project of that administration has started failing within two years”.
Contributing, the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr. Ferdinand Ekeoma, said that the opening on the ‘fly-over’ was widening and multiple, but “does not pose any immediate threat”.
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