The Cross River State Government, has inaugurated a taskforce to monitor and completely shut illegal schools in the state.
Stephen Odey, a Professor and Commissioner for Education, while inaugurating the taskforce in Calabar, the state capital, said the event marked the commencement of a statewide exercise aimed at identifying and shutting down of all schools, operating unapproved, across the 18 local government areas of Cross River State.
Addressing members of the taskforce, comprising Directors in the Ministry of Education, Coordinating Supervisory Directors, Education Secretaries, and a representative of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, NAPPS, Odey charged them to carry out their assignment with due diligence, demonstrable fairness, and strict integrity. He emphasized that the Ministry would frown at the application of favouritism in the discharge of this function.
Proprietors of illegal schools who continue to operate in defiance of government directives, he warned, would face strict legal consequences and sanctions, emphasizing that the state government is committed to ensuring that all schools in Cross River operate within approved standards to guarantee quality education for every child.
The inauguration of the this taskforce comes on the heels of the state government’s recent approval of a new and improved educational policy for primary and secondary education in the state. The taskforce will commence immediate state wide enforcement visits to ensure full compliance with government’s directives. Odey, heads this taskforce.
