Amaechi Assures On Free Education In Rivers

The governor of Rivers State, Rt. Hon.  Chibuike Amaechi has said that primary and
secondary school education in the state is free.

The governor has, therefore, directed that monies paid by
pupils and students in government-owned schools should be refunded.

Amaechi, who gave this cheering news on Thursday when he
made an unscheduled inspection of some government-owned schools in Port
Harcourt, said that any principal or headmistress caught collecting any form of
fees from pupils or students would be punished.

At the Community Comprehensive Secondary School,
Rumukurushi, some students told the governor that they paid school fees of
between N7,500 and N12,000 per student. Angered by this development, Amaechi
ordered the school principal to refund all fees collected from the students
immediately.

“You can hear that the children are being levied all sorts
of fees and there is no column in any of our schemes that allows any principal,
headmaster or headmistress to collect registration fees or any fees.

‘’So what we have directed is that, between now and Monday (today)
they must refund these children all their money”.

“If we say we are giving free education, it must be in all
our schools, both new schools and old schools.”

Amaechi said the government would set aside funds for the
running of schools and warned those involved in illegal collection of fees to
stop it, adding that already, a bill on inspection, monitoring and evaluation
had been sent to the state House of Assembly to set standards for all schools
operating in the state.

“We have sent a bill to the state Assembly on inspection, so
there has to be evaluation and monitoring.

‘’The monitoring is not only about academics, it’s also
about our own structures and infrastructure.

‘’ We have said that once we set that standard, if
government schools do not meet that standard, we will close them down. ‘’ If
private schools do not meet that standard, we will close them down, that is the
position.”

Amaechi also ordered the demolition of all illegal
structures within the premises and land of government owned schools in the
state.