Anambra Won’t Reclaim Mission Schools, Govt Assures
Our Correspondent
The Anambra State Government has assured that it will not reclaim schools voluntarily returned to religious missions, but warned that primary schools failing to meet minimum operating standards risk closure.
The decision followed Monday’s meeting of the Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) at the Light House, Awka.
In a statement issued yesterday, the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, dismissed reports that the government planned to take back the mission-returned schools.
He, however, said the council expressed concern over the poor operating standards in some of the schools, insisting that all public and private primary schools must meet prescribed requirements.
Mefor said the government would establish minimum operating standards for all primary schools in the state, warning that defaulters would be shut down.
He also disclosed that several primary schools across the state were undergoing renovation under a counterpart-funding arrangement between the state and federal governments.
On investment in education, the commissioner said the state had recruited 8,115 teachers for public primary and secondary schools.
Of the number, he said, 3,500 had been deployed to mission-returned schools, with the state government continuing to pay their salaries and other entitlements.
He said the measures were aimed at raising educational standards and ensuring that pupils in Anambra schools had access to quality learning environments.
