Lorine Emenike
The Rivers State Ministry of Education has said it will embark on digitalizing registration of schools to regulate issues of quarks operating in the nooks and cranny of the state.
The state commissioner of education, Tamunosisi Gogo Jaja, stated this during an interactive session with of private schools proprietors in the state at the Obi Wali cultural centre on thursday in Port Harcourt.
The state commissioner said the interactive session with owners of private schools was initiated according to directives of the state executive governor, Nyesom Wike, emphasizing that the session is to consult and intimate them of the sector’s new policies to ensure strict compliance.
He noted that as key stakeholders, private school owners are expected to ensure full compliance to the academic calendar of the state as well as the educational policies of the state and also ensure constant upgrade of their facilities geared towards making Rivers State an educational tourist state by the end of the administration of governor Wike.
He said the governor has expressed a burning desire to ensure that children in the state receive the best and therefore, the interactive session is key to realizing such desire for the children and for the ministry.
Continuing, the commissioner said that the session is also geared towards addressing quarks scattered all over the nooks and cranny of the state.
He maintained that the quark schools are substandard, and are also not registered with the state ministry of education.
The commissioner also used the medium to inform the school owners that by September, the state ministry of education will not give quark school owners room to reopen. He also advised parents and guardians not to send their children to such illegal schools as they do more harm than good.
The commissioner disclosed that the ministry will be embarking on the process of digitalizing registration and legalization of schools to checkmate the issue quarks in the system.
He stated there will be movement of the ministry from place to place to check illegal schools that are operating in the state, adding that the legalization processes of schools will be done online.
Mr Jaja emphasized that governor Wike has directed the ministry of education to ensure a conducive environment for all schools operating within Rivers States, both private and public schools.
He said that by the time the processes are done, that the ministry will be able to track the movement of every child in Rivers State, saying that with the development, any child involved in any vices and changes from one school to another school will easily be traced.
He added that governor Wike has promised the best for the children in the state by securing their future and that is what the ministry is working towards.
Also, he condemned the continued demand of first school leaving certificate by some institutions and noted that the Federal ministry of education has introduced the nine–three–four system of education, therefore, the recognized primary certificate is the basic education certificate and no longer the first school leaving certificate.
Meanwhile, the state president of National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools in Rivers States, Victor Green Napps, said that as a supervisory body, they will ensure that all owners of private schools in the state key into the new policies even as they carry out sensitization exercises to educate and ensure that every state and federal policy concerning education is being followed.
Great to know that
Eminentville Schools supports efforts at improving education in Rivers State, Nigeria
Great to know that