Worried by the poor state of public schools in Abia State, which has made many parents and guardians to prefer to enroll their children and wards in private schools, the state government has resolved to reform its public school system to make them attractive and competitive.

According to the Commissioner for Education, Prof. Uche Eme Uche , the government has introduced a programme  tagged, ‘Operation  Reclaim Our Schools Initiative’ and  also  constituted a Taskforce Team charged with the re-accreditation of schools in the state.

She explained that ‘Operation Reclaim Our Schools Initiative’ is a community-based effort that involves reconstructing and transferring the control of selected public primary and secondary schools to local communities.

The commissioner said the collaborative approach was adopted to engage stakeholders in the education sector, including financial organisations and individuals, with the goal of restoring public school lands and enhancing education standards.

She said the state government was working towards bringing schools in the state, whether public or private, to the standard set for them. She, therefore, urged private school proprietors in the state to cooperate with the taskforce team to ensure the successful re-accreditation exercise.

Uche appreciated private school proprietors for their roles in bridging educational gaps, assuring them that the re-accreditation exercise by the government was intended to enhance minimum educational standards and not a witch-hunt against any private school.

Addressing the taskforce team during their three-day training at the ministry’s conference room, the commissioner stressed that the re-accreditation of schools was not intended to shut down any private school but rather to ensure that acceptable minimum standard is met.

She added: “But any private school that does not meet such standard would be sealed temporarily and given some time to upgrade before reopening. The state government will equip the public schools to bring them up to attractive standard to compete with the private ones. All schools in the state whether private or public must meet the acceptable standard.”