ASABA/Nigeria: The number of schools in Delta State is said to be the highest in the federation and constitutes a major challenge of the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
The State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Chiedu Ebie, made the disclosure yesterday at a press briefing in Asaba on sundry issues, which was coordinated by the commissioner for Information, Chief Patrick Ukah and had in attendance the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, Mr Sam Diateke and his functioning counterpart in the Ministry of Information, Mr Paul Osahor JP.
Mr Ebie who revealed that primary schools in the state currently stood at 1,125, secondary 465 and technical colleges six, said that the state government still placed education on the front burner irrespective of the burden of the large number of schools.
According to the commissioner, the government had in recent times, established 46 schools comprising 12 primary and 34 secondary, saying that they were mostly in the rural and difficult-to-reach areas in the state.
The essence, the commissioner emphasized, was to deepen the access by pupils and students to education in the state, adding that the state government was still entertaining requests for the establishment of more schools.
The basic and secondary education commissioner also identified other challenges facing the ministry to include insecurity occasioned by cases of high theft and vandalism and teacher-distribution debacle, where he said that most teachers preferred to stay in urban locations.
He also identified unauthorized fees and levies collection as a major challenge, saying that the issue had been a recurring decimal and had prompted the state governor at a time to order the arrest of some school heads in the Warri and Effurun areas of the state last year.
He used the occasion to clarify that the recent order suspending the Head Teacher of Okotie-Ebor Primary School I, Mrs Veronica Igbive, was one of the several steps taken in the past to check the trend of unauthorized collections of fees and levies.
