AKURE- The Ondo State House of Assembly says out-of-school children is a menace that must be addressed in reducing various forms of social vices in the state.
The House Committee on Education, Science and Technology, led by its Chairman, Mr Kolawole Ologbede, stated this on Thursday during a familiarisation visit to the state Ministry of Education, Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), and Board of Adult, Technical and Vocational Education.
Other agencies visited are : State Library Board, State Scholarship Board, State Universal Basic Education Board( SUBEB) and State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
Ologede said that all children in the state must have at least basic education, noting that it would reduce level of illiteracy.
Ologede tasked the state Ministry of Education on making government-owned schools attractive to learners.
He urged the ministry and other stakeholders to get school children engaged in extra-curricula activities to take their focus away from criminally-induced activities.
He enjoined the ministry to ban the use of mobile phones by students in the public schools.
According to him, the House of Assembly is not relenting in ensuring that standard of education is uplifted in the state.
At the TESCOM Office, the committee chairman said that stakeholders must take education seriously if Nigeria would grow as a nation, promising that the House of Assembly would give its best legislative support.
Speaking at the Ondo State Board of Adult, Technical and Vocational Education, Ologede said that the board was important to the state government’s efforts to provide employment opportunities for teeming youths through vocational means.
He urged the board to collaborate closely with the assembly in achieving its purpose of creation, assuring that the board’s enumerated challenges would be addressed.
The committee chairman also said that the House of Assembly would attend to challenges of the state Scholarship Board, considering its relief roles in alleviating financial burden of students of the state origin in various tertiary institutions across the country.
Similarly, Ologede assured SITA that the House of Assembly would do its best to contribute immensely to development of technology in the state, urging the agency to strengthen all digital villages across the state.
At the State Library Board, the committee chairman stated that the committee would communicate with appropriate authorities in making the state library in Akure attractive and conducive for study.
Earlier, the Permanent Secretary of the state Ministry of Education, Mrs Folasade Adegoke, said that despite some challenges confronting public schools in the state, students still performed creditably in external examinations and national competitions.
Adegoke explained that the state was fair when compared to other states on out-of-school children menace, adding that the ministry was collaborating with individuals and corporate organisations in making public schools attractive.
Also, the Permanent Secretary of TESCOM, Mrs Tolu Adeyemi, said that recruitment of teachers and non teaching staff was overdue, in keeping standard of education high in the state.
Adeyemi added that there was need to put in place perimeter fence around all secondary schools in the state to keep miscreants away, urging the state government to extend its renovation projects to secondary schools across the state.
She added that the state government was planning to send a Bill for the creation of the Ondo State Senior Education Board to the House of Aseembly, pleading that it should be given accelerated hearing and passage for development of public secondary schools.
In her remarks, Mrs Funke Adelayi, the Administrative Officer of the state Board of Adult, Technical and Vocational Education, urged the committee to increase the budgetary allocations to the agency so that it could deliver in line with the state government’s agenda.
The Director of the state Library Board, Mr Abiodun Bagbe, called for timely access to budgetary allocation to the board, adding that the board needed to upgrade its services to electronic means.
Other members of the committee are: Mr Suleiman Murtala, the Vice Chairman; Mr Felix Afe, Mr Nelson Akinsuroju and Mr Johnson Oguntodu. (NAN)
