Kwara Begins Rehabilitation of 31 Public Schools, Distributes Free Exercise Books

Hammed Shittu in Ilorin

The Kwara State Governor, AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has commenced the rehabilitation of 31 public schools and provision of free exercise books to students across the state.

He said the step was a signal to the beginning of a new era for the education sector in the state.
Speaking at the commencement of the rehabilitation exercise in Baboko Community Secondary School, Ilorin, where three blocks of six classrooms are to be fully rehabilitated and fixed with modern ICT facilities, he said the rehabilitation of the school is to last six weeks.

The governor said the 31 schools are the first phase of the rehabilitation, which is required to gradually guarantee decent learning environment for the children.
The school rehabilitation commenced barely an hour after AbdulRazaq supervised the distribution of 932,572 free copies of customised 20, 40 and 80 leaves exercise books to public school students in the state.

He said he has approved the payment of N30.5 million penalties imposed on some schools in Kwara for malpractices in the last year secondary school leaving examination.

“The lack of conducive learning environment and longstanding failure to properly fund education – we last accessed UBEC fund in 2013- can explain rampant incidents of examination malpractices. We are working to end this menace and return Kwara to the top of the table in the north central and beyond.”

AbdulRazaq said the government will soon hold an education summit bringing together all stakeholders and private sector players to discuss the challenges and evolve with workable solutions.

In her remarks, the Commissioner for Education, Hajia Fatimah Ahmed commended the governor for his giant strides in the sector, including the establishment of an ICT centre in the school for special needs, settling outstanding arrears of N55 million feeding allowance of exchange students inherited from the past administration.

Ahmed said the administration has also provided N5 million worth of teaching aids and other basic equipment at the special needs school, sponsored the 2019 common entrance examination, and the recent approval of routine training for teachers in the state.
Various stakeholders in the education sector commended the governor for his effort to bring sanity and standard to the sector.