Ebonyi Inaugurates Committees On Illegal Schools

The Ebonyi State Government has inaugurated a five-man committee on illegal schools for each of the 13 local government areas of the state.

At the ceremony in Abakaliki, the state Commissioner for Education, Mr Ndubuisi Chibueze-Agbo, said that the government was determined to sustain the gains it had made in the fight against illegal and substandard schools in the state.

He said that each Committee, to be headed by the education secretaries, would ensure that schools without approval by the Ministry did not operate and recommend the prosecution of owners of such schools.

Chibueze-Agbo said that the committees had been empowered to regularly assess facilities in all approved public and private schools to ensure that standards were maintained.

“When a school losses some facilities upon which approval was given to it to operate, such a school will automatically become substandard and not fit to operate in our academic environment. “It is your duty to constantly assess and monitor facilities existing in schools in our local governments with a view to ensuring that they maintain acceptable standards as nothing short of the best is good enough for our children.’’

He identified the existence of illegal and substandard schools as one of the major causes of examination malpractice in the state, adding that the work of the committee would reduce this malpractice.

“When we send the operators of illegal and substandard schools out of business, then we will be on the verge of winning the war against examination malpractice in the state.

“The task before you, therefore, is an onerous one and you must show deep commitment; government is so passionate about getting ri of the state of the monster of unapproved and substandard schools.

“It is my candid belief that you will live above board and that within three months of operation the state will have better result’’.

The Commissioner said that statistics showed that Ebonyi has a total of 332 approved public and private secondary schools spread across the state. He said that 221 secondary schools belonged to government while 111 secondary schools were privately established by individuals and organisations.

He charged the Committee to liaise with the National Security and Civil Defence Commission (NSCDC), the Police, traditional rulers and other relevant bodies in their local governments to effectively carry out their assignment.

It would be recalled that the Ebonyi Government in 2012 closed down no fewer than 337 illegal and substandard primary and post-primary schools.