Rivers State Governor, Nyesom Wike, on Thursday that his administration is committed to creating access to basic education for rural and oceanic communities of the state.
Wike also stated that the state government had approved the employment of 10 000 teachers into the state’s educational system as a way bolstering access to quality education.
He said during a Courtesy Visit by the World Bank Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA) that the State Government embarked on the reconstruction and furnishing of rural schools to encourage parents to send their children to school.
According to him: “In the last four years, we have reconstructed and furnished 253 Basic Schools in the state. These schools are located mainly in the rural and oceanic areas.
“We reconstructed and furnished these schools to give our children access to quality education “.
“I have abolished every form of payment in primary, junior and senior Secondary Schools because many parents are poor, and they cannot afford these payments.
“We have taken the burden away from them so that poor parents can conveniently send their children to school “, he said.
He added that the State Government, through the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) has trained over 3000 teachers.
“Basic Education is key to the development of the state. SUBEB is awarding contracts for the furnishing of schools slated for 2018. After that of 2018, we will award 2019 contracts for the furnishing of schools.
“We are expecting more enrolments in schools, with the investments and progress that we have made “, he said.
He said that there are 1315 Basic Education Schools in Rivers State, pointing out that the State Government is working hard to transform the schools through phased interventions.
“Our state has completed and accessed all our grants from the Universal Basic Education Commission. We are up to date in the funding of basic education programmes. Part of the problem of Universal Basic Education is the inability of states to access matching grants. We have obtained these matching grants, and we are using the same to develop the basic education sector “,
National Programme Coordinator, World Bank Better Education Service Delivery for All (BESDA), Prof Gidado Tahir said the team would interact with officials of the State Government to improve access to basic education.
“We are looking forward to a beautiful collaboration with the Rivers State Government to achieve the required success “.
