Abia Govt begins reforms in education sector

The Abia Government says it has begun massive reforms in the education sector to improve the standard of education.

The Commissioner for Information and Culture, Mr Okey Kanu, said this on Wednesday while briefing journalists on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting at the Government House, Umuahia.

He said that plans were underway  to conduct a comprehensive re-accreditation of private schools in the state.

He also said that an enforcement team had been set up to ensure that private schools in the state met all the minimum standards required by government.

According to him, the enforcement team will look into the curriculum of the schools to ensure they meet the required standards and are compliant with the rules and regulations guiding their establishment.

“The team will look at the space these schools have because a lot of schools these days don’t even have grounds for children to exercise.

“There are too many things in their menu with regards to standards,” the commissioner said.

He said that government was determined to reposition the education sector, which informed its decision to embark on aggressive reforms.

Kanu said that government had also commenced the construction of model schools in all the 17 Local Government Areas of the state, training and retraining of teachers and reassignment of teachers to their areas of specialisation.

He said that Gov. Alex Otti declared a state of emergency in the education sector upon assumption of office because of his desire to deliver quality education to Abia children.

He said that government had embarked on the recruitment of science teachers into the state school system.

On health, Kanu said  that  the  general hospitals in the three senatorial zones were being equipped with the state-of-the-art medical equipment and would become operational by the end of the month.

Kanu also said that government’s efforts in transforming Aba had resulted in the  improvement of the state’s rating in the ease of doing business.

He said that government had commenced an “Aba rejuvenation” programme, adding that massive road rehabilitation had kicked off in the commercial town.

He said that work had also commenced to upgrade the abandoned Enyimba Hotel to a five-star facility to attract more investors to the state.