Education
Parents Want Commissioner’s Removal Over School’s Poor State
Parents whose wards are pupils of the Family Support Nursery/Primary school along parliamentary road in Calabar municipality recently staged a peaceful protest calling for the resignation of the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Mrs. Edak Iwuchukwu, over the neglect of the school by the ministry.
Their protest was based on allegation of embezzlement of funds, lack of infrastructural development, increase in school fees and complete poor management.
They also accused the Commissioner of introducing several levies ranging from N500 development fee, N500 examination fee, N1000 sports equipment, N500 sanitation and N500 for damages without consulting the Parents’ Teachers Association (PTA).
However, they said, “having paid all these levies, the money was not used for any of the services mentioned above while children who were to leave the school were denied graduation at the end of their school year. This is the first time we parents are experiencing this in this school. The former commissioner was not like this.”They accused the Commissioner also of plotting to sale off the school to herself against the dream of the founding fathers.
Parents numbering over 200 said they were protesting when the school Headmaster refused our wards their terminal results and an end of term get together which had been paid for since the first term.
However, following their protest, the commissioner invited the Headmaster and released funds the next day for the ceremony but most angry parents still said they were not satisfied with the management of the school.
Established since 1996, the school is said to be the brain child of the late Marian Babangida with the intention to support poor parents who are unable to send their children to school.
With a population of over 1000 then, the enrolment has reduced to a mere 300 as of today with teachers being owned arrears of salaries.
In an interview with a parent, Mr. Okon E. Okon with three of his kids in the school said “development in the school during the tenure of the present commissioner the school has been killed and buried. He said for three terms running, no results have been released by the school to parents.”
Another parent, Mr. Sunday Joshua also with three kids said that “parents were ready to withdraw their wards if the situation continues to deteriorate. He said the school has continued to witness large exodus of children because of poor facilities and management of the school. It is better off some years back which attracted us to bring our wards here.”
Earlier, the School headmaster, Mr. Emmanuel Agom in his reaction, said “all fees and levies meant for the school were paid into the banks and I only get money when approval comes from the Ministry.”
According to him, “I am still expecting the release of funds to organise an end of year party and send off for pupils in the school and whenever approval comes I will call parents and pupils for the function.”
In her reaction, the Commissioner, Mrs. Iwuchukwu, told Dossier that one third of pupils in the school owed school fees and it was not therefore possible to meet all the demands of the school/parents.
While apologising to parents, she promised that come September 2013, new structures will be erected in the school along with other amenities to decongest classrooms and bring in other facilities.
She said the call for her to resign was ill conceived as running of the activities in the school were handled by a constituted management and that was only one small unit of her schedule of duty, adding that “I was not appointed to come and run a school.”
The commissioner said further that with a monthly imprest of N60, 000 for the headmaster to handle sanitation matter and wondered why parents should complain. She advised parents to note that the school should be seen as a revenue earner for government and not a philanthropic institution.
She advised them to take away their wards to other schools if they do not feel satisfied with the handling of the day to day activities in the school.
She said that she had directed the school headmaster to publish the names of all children who owed school fees so as to refuse them further participation.
Some of the teachers interviewed told the Dossier that they were still on casual appointment and their salaries not at par with others in government circle as the school is run by the Ministry of women affairs.
This ugly development, it was gathered has not encouraged them adding that “prompt payment of our wages as at when due will go a long way to return the school back to its lost glory.”
Education
Hardwork, Unwavering Focus Key To Success -VC
Vice Chancellor of Rivers State University, Nkpolu-Oroworukwo, Port Harcourt, Prof. Nlerum Okogbule, has tasked newly admitted undergraduates to be hardworking and be more focused to their academic works as this, among others is key to success.
Prof. Okugbule also warned students to desist from joining secret cults, and engaging in examination malpractices, among other vices.
The Vice Chancellor stated this in his address at the 42nd matriculation ceremony of the university for the 2023/2024 academic session, held at the convocation arena in Port Harcourt, last Wednesday.
According to Prof. Okogbule, a total of 9,035 were formally admitted into the university.
“Today, a total of 9,035 candidates, who have satisfied the minimum requirements for admission into various programmes of the university are being formally admitted as students.”
The breakdown of the new students and their faculties is as follows: Faculty of Agriculture – 360 students ; Basic Medical Sciences – 1,085; Communication and Media Studies – 1,061; Education – 606; Engineering – 1,271; and Environmental Sciences – 268.
Others are: Humanities – 755; Law – 250; Management Sciences – 816; Science – 1,814 and Social Sciences – 479 respectively.
The Vice Chancellor added, “You are therefore expected to take your studies seriously and do not waste your valuable time on unproductive ventures or activities.
“Let me inform you that this university has zero tolerance for all forms of anti-social activities, such as membership of secret cult groups, examination malpractices or what is now known as ‘sorting.’
“The penalty for involvement in any of these activities is rustication from the university, and I do not waste time in doing this once a student is found culpable.”
Okogbule, however disclosed that RSU Students’ Affairs Directorate has a list of ‘registered and acceptable clubs’ the students can belong to in the university to assist them in extra-curricular activities on campus.
He advised, “In order to encourage academic excellence, the university has a policy of declaring as University Scholars those who attain a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 5.00 at the end of every academic session.
“The university will be responsible for the school fees of such students provided their CGPA does not fall below 4.50. In addition, such students, upon graduation, will be given preference when employment opportunities are available.
“The expo I will give you in this regard is that it is easier to make the 5.00 CGPA in 100 level of any programme. So the best time to strive to achieve this feat is now.”
He pointed out that RSU, among others, has become top choice higher institutions in the country for many students, following the infrastructural development and the non-disruption of academic activities in the institution for several years, saying, “Freshers should count themselves lucky to have been admitted there.”
While commending parents and guardians whose children are matriculating for their vision and sacrifices, Prof. Okogbule urged them to monitor their wards activities while on campus.
Education
Rector Gifts Best Students N400,000 As Edo Poly Matriculates 9,150
The Federal Polytechnic, Ede, Osun State last Friday matriculated 9,150 new students into various courses of study offered at both National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) levels.
This was as the Rector of the institution, Engr. Dr. Man Yahaya Sani gave the sum of N200,000 cash gift each to two National Diploma students with the highest Cumulative Grade Point Average.
The students are; Waliu Babatunde Bamidele from the department of Library and Information Science and Babatunde Joshua Ifeoluwa, a student of Mechanical Engineering, both with a CGPA of 3.98.
Sanni in his address, said the management is committed to providing an all-round education in a conducive, friendly teaching and learning environment.
The Rector noted that only 59.5% of candidates who signified interest to study in the Polytechnic were eventually admitted.
He added that the polytechnic had secured 18 new programmes at both the National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) levels, taking its total to 64 programmes.
The Rector admonished the new intake to emulate the recipients of the cash gift and avoid bad companies that can lead them to violate the rules and regulations of the institution and jeopardise their admission.
“My dear matriculating students, I want to congratulate and welcome you all for finally making it here despite the tedious and rigorous processes that you passed through. You indeed struggled to scale the hurdles of Senior School Certificate Examinations (SSCE), the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations (UTME) and of course our own Post-Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (POST-UTME) Screening before gaining admission to this prestigious Polytechnic.
“I must not fail to tell you loud and clear that the Polytechnic has zero tolerance for cultism and other sundry anti-social vices i.e. riot, looting, arson, disobedience, examination malpractices, drug abuse, drunkenness, cheating, disrespect for constituted authorities, indecent dressing etc.
Education
Bill To Increase UBEC Funding Passes Second Reading
A bill for the amendment of the Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC Act to increase its funding from the consolidated revenue from 2 per cent to 4 per cent has passed the second reading in the House of Representatives.
The Chairman of House Committee on Basic Education and Services, Bako Useni, stated this during the committee oversight function at the Digital Resource Centre, built by UBEC, in Abuja, Nigeria.
The centre was built for the training of teachers on digital education in Nigeria.
Bako said the 10th Assembly saw the need to increase financial resources to the basic education sub-sector for set objectives to be further met, hence, the amendment bill sponsored by Muktar Shagaya to increase revenue accruing to UBEC from 2 per cent to 4 per cent.
“The amended bill, which passed the second reading on Wednesday, when concluded, will make UBEC stronger.
“Since UBEC was established in 2004, to date, a lot has been achieved. However, the House felt that if UBEC is motivated with more funding, it will go a long way in achieving more of what it has achieved.
It was on this basis that one of us, Honourable Mukhtar Shagaya, proposed an amendment to the UBEC Act to increase funding to UBEC from 2 per cent to 4 per cent from the Consolidated Revenue Fund,” he said.
used to reshape those in the senior and management cadres of the basic education sub-sector.
The National Coordinator of the Digital Resource Centre, Professor Bashir Galandanci, said the Digital Resource Centre is part of the effort of the commission to transform the agency into a digital era.
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