From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
The Chairman of the Ekiti State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Prof. Femi Akinwumi, has disclosed that the state government has constructed perimeter fences in 260 public primary schools across the state to prevent abduction and ensure security of lives of both pupils and teachers in schools.
There had been reported cases of abduction of pupils in the Northern part of the country, particularly in Katsina, Niger, Zamfara and Kaduna States in the Northcentral and Northwest parts of the country.
Akinwumi, who spoke during the registration of pupils into public primary schools in the state for the 2021/2022 academic session in Ado Ekiti, on Friday, said the government has also supplied 43,609 furniture for pupils and teachers across primary schools in the state.
The SUBEB Chairman added that the actions were taken to improve standards of education at the primary cadre and make the pupils academically solid to compete anywhere in the country.
Speaking during the symbolic registration exercise at Holy Trinity Nursery and Primary school in Ado-Ekiti, Akinwumi attributed the tremendous improvement in the quality of education in public schools in the last two years to the relentless efforts of the Fayemi Administration at providing conducive and child-friendly learning environment at the pre-primary, primary and JSS levels.
According to him, the Fayemi administration had paid over N7.6 billion as counterpart funding to UBEC in the last two and half years.
He added that the development paved way for the ongoing massive rehabilitation of school infrastructure and construction of additional school buildings in the state under the UBEC /SUBEB Intervention Projects.
He said: “Government’s efforts are already yielding positive results as public schools in the state now have the required facilities and manpower to sustain a high quality education.
“The excellent result of pupils of public primary schools in the state in the just concluded placement examinations and the obvious increase in school enrollment were as a result of efforts of government in terms of improved infrastructure and capacity of teachers.
“Government has constructed 209 blocks of new classrooms, 553 blocks of renovated classrooms as well as the procurement of 11,102 units of pupils desks and benches, 21,536 units of pupils’ plastic chairs furniture and 10,971 units of teachers’ furniture totalling 43,609 furniture together.
“We have also constructed perimeter fencing in 260 schools, initiated construction of 288 VIP toilets, procurement of 648 units of Merry-go-round and 954 swings for early childhood education. The perimeter fencing is to ensure that our pupils are safe on campus.
“We, therefore, called on parents and guardians of children of school age in the state to take advantage of free compulsory education of government to register their children and wards in public schools as government owned schools in the state could now compete favourably with the best private schools in terms of infrastructure and manpower.”