A group of Civil Society Organizations in Enugu State under the auspices of Advocacy Task Committee on Education Sector(ATCES), working with ESSPIN, ENSUBEB on school management system has called on Government to improve qualitative education in Primary Schools in the state.
The Group made this call during a one-day public dialogue on Primary Education, topic: “Quality Primary Education, an imperative for dynamic and peaceful nation building” over the weekend at Oaklands center, Enugu.
While addressing participants at the dialogue, ATCES, identified problems plaguing the primary education in the state to include; inadequate teachers, outdated annual school census template, imbalance in spread of teachers, lackadaisical attitude from critical stakeholders and poor basic social amenities in rural areas and lack of operational inspectorate unit as problems which hamstring qualitative education in the state.
However, the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Okolo, assured the CSOs that Government has modified the template for annual schools census which, “will gradually correct the imbalance in spread of teachersÈE in the state. It will also help in showing where there is lack of teachers in the state.
“The society equally has a duty to partner with government and pass information to the authorities that will uplift the smooth administration of primary education in the state.
“Government is determined to boost infrastructural development in the state especially in the area of roads and electricity which will make life meaningful in rural areas and stem rural-urban drift in teachers.
“We have also engaged the services of Volunteer Teachers to bridge the gap in shortage of teachers and will continuously enunciate programmes aimed at building the capacity of the teachers which will translate to qualitative primary education”.
