Ugochukwu Eke.
Abia state Governor, Dr Okezie Ikpeazu says his administration is working hard to reverse school enrolment from private to public schools in the state, disclosing that the effort is yielding results.
Speaking at the 2018 national men’s day of the Assemblies of God church 222 Clifford Road, Aba with the theme manifesting the Glory of Revival, the Governor said various measures introduced by the government in that regard has yielded results.
Ikpeazu said that his adminstration is building 4 model schools in the 3 senatorial zones of the state which are nearing completion.and has renovated 340 primary schools across the state.
He stated that the rehabilitation effort is aimed at enhancing the atmosphere in the schools for better teaching and learning.
According to him, school enrolment in the public primary schools has risen from 151,000 to over 600,000 in 3 years as a result of the free feeding programme from primary 1-6 introduced by the state government.
Ikpeazu who revealed that primary school teachers in state are being sent for retraining courses in Australia also disclosed that the number of women employed as cooks in the primary schools have risen from 750 to 5,250.
The Abia state chief executive stressed that his government is very serious about education and disclosed that in the next two years public schools in the state will be better than the privately owned Ones.
He restated the readiness of government to hand over primary schools of the Assemblies of God church taken over by the state government to church soon and noted noted the contribution of the churches to the growth of education.
He however frowned at a situation where some churches rent out portions of the schools for private purposes.
The Governor thanked the Assemblies of God church for their support and appealed for continued prayers for his government.
Earlier in an address,the men’s president, deacon Kalu Onwuka and the General secretary, deacon David Okey appreciated the Governor for gracing the occasion and appealed to the Governor to approve the recovery of their primary schools approved by their predecessor but we’re not released due to the internal misunderstanding the church had.
The Governor also attended the national men’s day of Assemblies of God church 16-20 Obohia Road, Aba and that of Ukaegbu Road,Aba.
