Kwara State government has announced approved Parents Teachers Association fees payable by students across all public secondary schools in the State.
The Permanent Secretary Kwara State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development, Mrs Mary Kemi Adeosun, has warned school principals across the 16 local government of the state to desist from collection of all kinds of illegal fees in all public secondary schools.
Adeosun made this statement on Friday in a meeting held with all principals of Secondary Schools at Saint Anthony Secondary School Ilorin, the State capital.
Any principal caught collecting more than the approved PTA levies by the government will be sanctioned according to the civil service rule, she cautioned.
Adeosun, therefore, solicited the support of the school heads for the Administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who she said wholeheartedly is committed to the welfare of teachers while also making huge investments in the education sector.
Adeosun called for sanity and discipline across the schools and urged the Principals to tolerate one another to allow peace to reign in their respective schools.
She urged the principals to keep their students indoor, saying any school whose students are found roaming the street risks government sanctions.
She also reminded them that no Principal should admit new students into SSI without the BECE result, and where there is overpopulation in school, the students should move to neighbouring schools.
“Also, Vice Principal Academics should take charge of all examinations the school, and staff should not be used as exam officers. Any school found wanting will be sanctioned,: she said.
She asserted that no NGOs, Old Students or Mission bodies, community or individual should be above the government of the State.
“Therefore, there must be appropriate permission from the Government before anyone is allowed to carry out anything in the schools,” Adeosun said.
On the issue of PTA levy, the Permanent Secretary declared: “Henceforth, the ministry will deploy auditors to all secondary Schools in the state to know the status of their account.”
She therefore listed out the Approved Fees in the Schools as follows:
PTA:
JSS – 1,450
SSS – 1,500
NEW INTAKE:
JSS – 3,930
SSS – 3,980
TEXTBOOKS:
JSS – 4,500
SSS – 5,600
BECE QUESTION AND ANSWER: 1,800.
She announced that government is to provide reading textbooks to pupils at the primary level through the SUBEB, a step she said underscores the commitment of the administration to basic education.
Earlier, the Executive Chairman of Kwara State Teaching Service Commission Mallam Bello Taoheed Abubakar described as false rumours that the Commission has commercialised the appointment of principals and vice principals into all secondary Schools in the state.
He reiterated the good works of Governor AbdulRazaq in the sector, which Bello said included prompt payment of salary, promotion of teachers, and infrastructure upgrades.
Bello urged the school heads to be punctual and master their subjects to reciprocate the good gesture of the governor.
President of All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), Mall. Umar Abdulahi, for his part, applauded the Governor for putting round pegs in round holes in the education sector, assuring the government that they will abide by the outcome of the meeting.
He further advised the Principals to avoid any illicit acts that can dent their images.
Meanwhile reports on recent efforts of the government show a huge surge in pupils’ enrolment in public schools as public confidence grows in the government’s investments in the sector.
