Niger State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education has warned against monetization of essential working implements and outright extortion of Parents during School resumption by any public school Heads as the schools resume.
Niger State Commissioner of Basic and Secondary Education, Dr. Hadiza Asabe Mohammed gave the warning in a statement ahead of Schools resumption on Monday.
She reiterated that any School manager found guilty would be sanctioned and punished accordingly.
The Commissioner noted that with the economic situation, it will not be fair to burden parents under the guise of providing items such as packet of Chalk, a Hoe, and cutlass for their children through unnecessary charges.
Dr. Hadiza also admonished against the way and manner in which some School managers add to the hardships of some parents extorting monies in the name of registration and admission fees, warning that no School should issue Admission into Secondary School, it is only the Ministry that issues Admission with index number.
“These are all issues that have been discussed during the Zonal meetings held with the School managers, Zonal Quality Assurance Directors, Head Teachers, Education Secretaries and Teachers recently in order to improve the Education landscape in the State” the commissioner reminded the Managers.
According to the statement, to lessen the burden of parents, the Ministry have taken the responsibility to provide every Student with School badge and Identification Cards for free and no School Manager should ask any Student to pay.
Furthermore, the State Government under the leadership of the Farmer Umaru Mohammad Bago is looking at ways and means of providing every child from ECCDE to Secondary School with School uniforms for free,
The statement added that in line with the policy, the termly Parent Teacher Association fee(PTA) have been reviewed according to Boarding Schools,Day and Primary Schools which will be paid termly as against the annual collection by the School managers.
By this statement, the Boarding Students are to pay the Sum of 2000 Naira only per term, the Day Students are to pay the sum of 1000 per term while the Primary Student are to pay 500 Naira per term to the PTA officials and not to the School managers anymore.
The PTA’ s are advised to open an account of the Association in the name of the School and for transparency and accountability nobody should use the money without the consent of the Ministry for purpose of clearance.
The Commissioner assured of the Farmer Umaru Mohammad Bago’s resolve to better the quality and integrity of the Education System in line with his policy thrust of New Niger Agenda.
