Abia State government has announced that only exiting classes in primary and secondary schools will be permitted to organise graduation ceremonies.

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Elder Goodluck Ubochi, and his counterpart in Information, Prince Okey Kanu, made this announcement in Umuahia, saying the practice has been a drain and financial burden on parents and guardians.

This is as the state government added that going forward, graduation ceremonies in the schools would only be limited to primary six pupils and SS3 students.

The Commissioners further noted that the decisions of education stakeholders to the effect that only pupils and students of exiting classes should hold a graduation ceremony and that textbooks should be separated from workbooks to enable siblings to make use of textbooks used by their elder ones are being considered by the State Executive Council.

“Then the next would be those exiting the secondary school education, there could be a celebration for them. But those of them in nursery school do not know how such kids will be subjected to graduation and big graduation gowns will be made.

“Another thing that would also impress parents is the issue of textbooks. It’s another thing that publishers would combine both the textbook and the workbook. Which means that by the time a child ends a particular class with a given textbook, that textbook cannot be used by any other person.

“So we decided that the publishers should separate the textbook from the workbook. So the workbook would be used for an assignment for a given child, whereas the textbook would remain relevant for as many people, as many younger ones as would have access to that,” Elder Ubochi explained.

The Commissioner added that the government encourages parents to make sure that they pick the basic education certificates of their children, declaring that schools would not charge more than 2,000 Naira for the collection of primary 6 and basic education certificates, while that of secondary school would not be more than 4,000 Naira.

“There are so many schools that are difficult to access. But one thing is that our children are also in these schools, and we can’t just leave them. People must be posted to these areas.

“But what the government has done is to provide some level of incentive, meaning that those who will willingly choose to go to such places to serve will have some encouragement in the form of a cash incentive,” Elder Ubochi stated.

Prince Kanu announced that the government has adjusted postings of the newly recruited teachers to suit those who made complaints about the places they were posted for various reasons.

He informed that the state government has concluded the two weeks intensive training organised for the newly recruited teachers in the state to equip them for 21st-century teaching.

He added that renovations and construction of public schools are ongoing, and at different stages of completion at 63 schools across the state.

“All these interventions underscore the state government’s commitment to creating and sustaining a conducive living environment that will position Abia State as a leading centre of education excellence in the country.”