Ahead of resumption on September 16, the Abia State government has began the posting of security personnel in schools across the state.
The Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, disclosed this while speaking to journalists on the outcome of this week’s Executive Council meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti, on Monday.
The measure, according to him, was aimed at safeguarding lives and property in the schools, especially as reports of criminal invasion of schools in the country and vandalism of school infrastructure were on the increase.
Kanu said: “Also, as part of the ongoing reform agenda in the educational system, the promise that the state government has made in the past has come to fulfilment with the posting of security personnel to our schools.
“Posting security personnel in schools is aimed at securing the lives and property of the students, teachers and the property of the schools involved.”
He stated that security personnel would be deployed in schools in Umuahia in the first phase and expand to Aba and other parts of the state.
The government also announced that it had concluded plans to train 2,000 master trainers for teachers in the state, to reform the educational system.
He noted that 200 teachers had passed through the training, with an additional 1,800 more to have their training soon, ahead of the school resumption.
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He added that the Abia State Basic Education Board had screened, interviewed and shortlisted 40 teachers for training under the Abia State School Enhancement Team Programme, a quality assurance initiative, preparatory for the resumption of schools in the state.
He further disclosed that the posting of security personnel to public schools in the state had commenced, a measure aimed at safeguarding lives and property in the schools.
Kanu also said a total of 5,746 ASUBEB staff had been slated for promotion, adding that the development was a way to motivate the staff for greater productivity.
The Special Adviser to the Governor on Education, Dr Kenechukwu Nwosu, said the state at present was mapping out all the schools in line with the security needs assessment and also considering fencing the schools in the state.
“We know that our schools have long issues of vandalism; hence the Abia Vigilante Services is being deployed to the schools.
“It is not only in Umuahia. In this first phase, we are also expanding to Aba and other parts of the state as the Abia Vigilante Services continues to build required capacity,” he said.
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