Fayemi: govt to arrest parents of pupils hawking during school hours

Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi has said the state government will henceforth arrest parents of pupils found hawking during school hours.

A statement yesterday in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Olayinka Oyebode, said the governor gave the warning at the weekend while meeting with stakeholders in the Education sector.

The governor urged parents to take advantage of the free education policy of his administration to reduce the number of out-of-school children.

Fayemi said all hands must be on deck to checkmate the declining school enrolment in the state regarded as Fountain of Knowledge.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the governor, shortly after his inauguration last October, declared free education from primary to senior secondary schools in the state.

He also abolished all education levies and the education tax introduced by the immediate past administration in the state.

At the meeting, Fayemi noted that many parents were yet to take full advantage of the free and qualitative education policy of the administration.

The governor said part of the responsibilities of government is to ensure that children and youth who are the future of the nation, are properly groomed through qualitative education that would prepare them for the future.

He said the current school enrolment rate of 55 per cent, as against 96 per cent recorded in 2014, was unacceptable to his government.

According to him, something must be done urgently to reverse the ugly trend.

Fayemi said his administration had started compiling records of retired teachers with a view to determining available vacancies in the teaching service and how to fill them.

The governor added that the state government would soon commence recruitment of competent and qualified teachers who would help to raise the standard of education in the state.

He also said the administration had begun the process of returning mission schools to their original owners, but stressed that the government would continue to monitor them to ensure that the schools’ standards do not decline.