Rivers to prosecute school heads extorting from pupils

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has threatened to dismiss and prosecute public school heads that collects fees or levies from pupils in the state.

He reiterated that state-owned primary and secondary school heads should to stop collecting fees and levies from students and pupils with immediate effect.

Wike, who gave the warning yesterday during a meeting with the heads of primary and secondary schools, Rivers State Senior Secondary Schools Board and State Universal Basic Education Board at the Government House, Port Harcourt, yesterday, said: “From today henceforth, no child either in primary and secondary schools should pay fees and levies in any school across the state. The monies you collect from these children are just used for your personal purposes. If I hear that any school head collects any fee or levy, be it examination, NECO or WAEC fee, that school head would be sanctioned.

“We shall not only dismiss the school head who collects fees or levies, we will prosecute the person involved. Government will work out grants that will be sent to the schools for their regular management and operations.”

He said that henceforth, the state government would be sending direct allocations to all primary and secondary schools management for their operations.

He also directed the state Ministry of Education, the Rivers State Senior Secondary Schools Board and the State Universal Basic Education Board to monitor all public schools across the state to ensure compliance.

The governor, who said his administration funds the salaries, allowances, examinations and equipment of all public schools, assured parents that his administration would remain committed to the provision of quality education, which is accessible to the less-privileged, adding: “I have abolished all fees and levies and it will never happen again in our public primary and secondary schools. Nobody should collect fees and levies from the children of the less-privileged.”

Meanwhile, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Mr. Adonye Hart, stated that the governor had released funds for the running and supervision of the schools for the 2019/2020 academic session.

Hart said that the suspension of Oginigba Community Secondary School principal was to serve as a deterrent to other school administrators who fail to adhere to government’s directive not to collect fees or levies from students in all public schools.

He said that the funds released by the governor would be used by the schools for registers, chalks, dusters, markers, notebooks, pens and other consumables.