The Nigerian Institute of Environmental Engineers (NIEE), Abuja chapter, on Tuesday called for effective management of the environment to prevent the spread of dangerous diseases across the country.
NIEE President, Abuja Chapter, Ms. Lynda Elesa, had this to say at the 2022 Valerie Agberagba Clean, Renewable and Energy Efficiency (CREEC) Competition and Public Lecture in Abuja.
Elesa, who would end her term as NIEE president this week, said the engineers had brought together about 12 schools in the FCT for the environmental competition.
He said that the essence of the competition is to help children learn more about the importance of cleanliness, and part of the activities in honor of CREEC.
She said that the goal of the program is to promote the principle of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as help the next generation to use their creative minds and their ability to use renewable energy.
He said that the program will also develop energy efficiency and offer solutions to environmental challenges for environmental sustainability in the country.
“The competition with the conference is organized in renewable energy to equip the next generation of innovative clean energy entrepreneurs.
“Students are also expected to be one of the creators of environmental change in their communities and in the country in general.
“Students are also expected to identify environmental problems and provide a solution to address the challenge,” he said.
“It is important to know that the environment is an essential part of our existence and, if properly managed, can be a productive resource that can increase our economic growth not just for today, but for generations to come.
“If mishandled, it can easily be dangerous and make people sick.
“Due to ignorance, poverty, overpopulation, greed, among others, people have refused to do the right thing and do not care about taking proper care of our environment.
“The dirty environment has caused natural disasters such as biodiversity, floods, transmission of communicable diseases and others.
“It's good for us to know that if the environment is unhealthy, everything within it is in danger,” he said.
Mr. Umar Jibrin, former Secretary of the Federal Capital Development Authority, said in his lecture on "Innovations for Environmental Sustainability in Nigeria" that he captured all aspects of the environmental challenges in the country.
Jibrin, also a guest speaker, said that environmental degradation has been a global problem, adding that much remains to be done to meet the challenges.
“The conference captured all the issues of flooding, challenges in solid waste management, problems of lack of adequate water supply that have been solved.
“We need to update solid waste management and other challenges. This can only be possible if other private sectors can come together to ensure that we address the issues,” he said.
And the General Manager, Renewable Energy and CREEC initiator, Ms. Valerie Agberagba, said that the engineers organized programs for the students to teach them the importance of renewable energy.
“There are many talents from the younger generation, so the competitions will contribute to addressing environmental challenges in the country.
“The workshops and seminars, organized for the students, will expose them to what these technologies are,” he said.
NIEE National President Mr. Sesan Odukoya said environmental challenges have given rise to the Valerie Agberagba initiative.
According to him, innovation placed a key development to increase and improve business and technologies.
“Innovation can also present itself as a new idea and knowledge. Renewable energies, electric power, among others, are the main sources of energy that drive the country's development,” he said.
Chief Executive Officer (Red) of Niger Delta Power Holding Company Ltd., Mr. Ife Oyedele, said that a lot of work has been done to finance renewable energy in Nigeria.
“The government is doing everything possible to ensure that renewable energy is sustained.
“The private sectors must support the government to effectively build the growth of renewable energy in the country.
The Nigerian News Agency reports that around 12 students from various schools in the FCT, participated in the Sustainable environmental competition.
Government Junior High School, Area 11, ranked first and received N200,000, while Junior High School, Kwali, ranked second and received N150,000, third position went to JSS, Chukuku, which received N100,000 .
Ms Anumkwen Wandermum, JSS Area 11, speaking on behalf of other students, said she was excited about the competition and thanked the NIEE for giving them the opportunity.
Agberagba said the money was for each of the students who participated in the competition.
=========Edited
Source Credit: NAN
The Youth Empowerment Foundation, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) has empowered school girls across the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT) on self-reliance and networking through its quiz competition.
The Programme Manager of the foundation, Mrs Tolulope Osoba, who was speaking on the sideline of the competition in Abuja on Thursday said there was need to impact the lives of a girl child for national prosperity.
According to her, the competition is among various participating schools in the FCT to ensure that their worth is built as well network among themselves.
” The programme is a girl empowerment project, which was started by the Standard Chartered Bank in India and is aimed to improve the lives of young girls.
” The programme is going on in 30 countries of the world which enable young girls to realise who they are and help them to achieve whatever dreams they have for themselves.
” The government has a role to play in balancing gender equality by trying to give the female a chance to display their creativity in the society,” she said.
Osoba said that the 2022 edition of the programme withnesed competition from nine different schools in the FCT.
She listed the schools as the Junior Secondary School (JSS) in Mpape, Nyanya, Area 11, Area 1 , Pyakasa, Kubwa1, Dutse, Life Camp and Kubwa.
She, therefore, called on parents and government to pay adequate attention to the education of girls so they could grow to become better citizens and representatives of their country anywhere in the world.
” The first socialisation a child gets is from the home which will portray the attitude of the child in the society, so the parent must inculcate discipline to their children where necessary,” she said.
The programme which witnessed quiz competition in various fields had girls from the nine schools jostling for prizes.
However, girls from JSS Nyanya came top in the competition list while JSS Area 1 and JSS Mpape came second and third positions respectively.
Speaking, Hajaratu Salami, a JSS 2 student of JSS Nyanya said she was elated at her announcement as the overall best.
Salami, who said she had been preparing for the competition in the last four months, said she would not relent as she was determined to also make her school proud in the next edition of the competition.
She called on the government at all levels to take very crucial step on education of Nigerians irrespective of sex, tribe or religion.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The National Mathematical Centre (NMC) has organised its first round mathematics competition for girls students in public Junior Secondary School across the country to encourage learning of the subject.
Speaking at the programme on Friday in Abuja, the Executive of the Centre, Prof. Promise Mebine, said the programme was in pursuit of the Sustainable development Goals – 4 (SDGs4) agenda.
Mebine further said that the programme aimed at promoting healthy academic competitiveness among the Nigerian girls in the study of mathematics.
“One of the Sustainable Development Goals number four is quality education, number five is gender quality.
“We all know in Nigeria that the girls are relegated to the background in terms of education.
The males are dominating in every area.
“So the quest of NMC is to see that we encourage, motivate and push the girls’ interest in mathematics and equally select the best girls out of the Nigerian girls in mathematics,” he said.
While commending the Federal Ministry of Education for the initiative, the director encouraged the state governments to queue into the programme so as to carry all the girls along.
He said that at this first stage the centre will select the best 120 students from each senatorial district across the federation.
“After which we have to select the best 20 from each of the states who will go for the second round from there we go for the third round before we pick the best three out of each states, bring them together to select the best of the best”.
He, therefore, called for spirited Nigerians as well as organisations to partner with the centre to train further internationally the girls who would emerge the overall best in the competition.
Similarly, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, David Adejo, said the Federal Government through the Ministry had shown commitment in addressing the Out-of-School menace at the Basic Education level.
According to him, a large chunk of out-of-school children constitutes girls who are facing barriers such as child marriage, poverty and discriminatory social norms.
Represented by Mr Jude Anyilamuba, Director, Language Education, Adejo noted that education of the girl-child becomes imperative.
“Education makes mothers to be more aware of their responsibilities to the children who will thrive and learn quickly when their mothers are educated.
“What we are witnessing today is one of the ways of promoting girl-child education at the Basic Education level and it needs to be applauded,” he said.
Also speaking, the Desk Officer, SDGs, NMC, Dr Sylvester Okwuoza, said the competition was taking place in all the states including the Federal Capital Territory.
The Executive, NMC, Prof. promise Mebine inspecting Students at the mathematics competition in Abuja on Friday.
He said the fear of mathematics had really affected its learning among girls, hence the need to catch them young.
“The fear of mathematics has really being a phobia to all students; however, the gap between the girls and the males is very big.
“There is an argument that the girls are not at par with the males, so with this SDG for girls, we are trying to introduce girls into science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
On her part, Mrs Gloria Akeredolu, the Vice Principal, Academics, JSS, Area 11, Garki, Abuja said that training of a girl-child is like training the whole nation.
“When you train a girl-child you have trained the whole nation, the community, the environment and the nation as a whole, which is why it is very necessary for us to take good care of our girls,” she said.
Mrs Fasilat Bello, the Vice Principal Administration of the same school, said the programme would help the girls academically, morally and socially.
“Because academically they will be more sound when they are invited to attend competition like this.
“At least in mathematics especially I’m sure this programme will go a long way in improving them academically,” she added.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
No fewer than 1,620 girls participated in Safe Space activities supported by the UN Population Fund (UNFPA Nigeria) in Sokoto State.
Mrs Ubaida Abdulnasir, the state’s Team Lead at the Centre for Girls Education (CGE), the implementing Non-Government Organisation, told the News Agency of Nigeria in an exclusive interview in Sokoto on Sunday that 81 mentors in Sokoto North and Binji local government areas were also equipped with knowledge on life skills, jolly phonics and Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
Abdulnasir said that under the intervention, CGE provided the girls with knowledge on jolly phonics, life skills, and issues on GBV.
According to her, issues discussed at the Safe Space focus on rudiments of mentoring, mentors standard practices, practical sessions, and others.
The team lead said “there is an obvious increase in the number of girls’ school retention following mentoring at the safe space.
“The girls also teach other members of their families about what they learnt in the safe space.
The academic performance of some of the girls attending safe space has also improved.
’’
Abdulnasir added that another project was also introduced with support of UNFPA and other donors, where 40 peer educators were equipped with knowledge and skills to promote optimal health and development of adolescents and young people.
She said “in the implementation of the Ripple Project, 3,038 peer educators acquired knowledge and gained information on Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR).
“Other topics were Sexual and Gender Based Against Women and Girls , Family Planning (PF) and Harmful Practices (HP), Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and Early Child Marriage in various communities of Sokoto State.
’’
A Junior Secondary School (JSS 3) 3 Safe Space student, Ruqayya Ahmad Khalid, said she learnt a lot on moral training, body hygiene “and how to prevent ourselves from sexual harassment and other forms of abuse.
“We also learnt how to prevent ourselves from contracting diseases, menstrual hygiene and how to advance our studies to acualise our future dreams.
’’
Another Safe Space student, Balkisu Sani from Yahaya Abdulkarim Secondary School, Sokoto, said the safe space allowed her and her peers to discuss silent and personal issues affecting their lives.
Sani said “at the safe space, we talk about issues that we don’t even discuss with our parents.
“The safe space allowed us to jointly discuss many issues that we think are secret to us with the facilitators and they provide solutions to our problems.
’’
According to her, participants also acquire business skills at the safe space as the facilitators encourage them to embark on businesses that will augument their family income.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Katsina State team that represented Nigeria at the International Debate Championship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, has emerged winner of the competition after beating the hosts Malaysian team.
The Katsina team secured the ticket to represent Nigeria after becoming runners up at the 2021 Presidential Inter-Schools debate championship in Lagos.
Malam Aminu Badaru, the spokesperson of Katsina State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), disclosed this in a statement issued to newsmen on Sunday in Katsina.
He said that the debate was conducted on current affairs, especially the crisis, Public and Private schools and also on two party systems of government.
According to him, the championship, held between Sept. 14, and 22, was conducted successfully and without hitches.
Badaru added that, “six students from Junior Secondary Schools (JSSs) in the state represented NIgeria at the competition, out of which four were females.
”
He said that the SUBEB’s Executive Chairman, Alhaji Lawal Buhari-Daura, who led the team, described the performance of the Nigerians as wonderful and commendable.
“Buhari-Daura also said that winning the trophy by the team was a clear testimony of the commitment of Gov. Aminu Masari’s resolve to resuscitate the lost glory of education in the state.
The SUBEB boss also appreciated and commended the state government for sponsoring the trip that enabled the state to represent Nigeria at the debate.
He assured the Presidential Schools Debate of Nigeria (PSDN) that the Katsina team would continue to make the state and the country proud in all future competitions.
Buhari-Daura commended the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) for its support towards the development of basic education in the state.
The SUBEB Desk Officer for debate and quiz competitions, Alhaji Suleiman Umar, said winning the trophy was not by surprise, considering the concerted efforts of the state government and vigorous grooming and training the team had before its departure.
According to him, the team has since returned home.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Kwara Government has warned school principals to desist from collection of illegal fees from students or their parents.
This is contained in a statement issued by the Press Secretary, Ministry of Education And Human Capital, Development, Mr Peter Amogbonjaye.
According to the statement, the Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mrs Kemi Adeosun, gave the warning after a meeting held with all principals of secondary schools at Saint Anthony Secondary School, Ilorin.
”Your support as school heads is needed for the Administration of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq who is committed to the welfare of teachers while also making huge investments in the education sector.
”Also there should be sanity and discipline across the schools and I urge the Principals to tolerate one another to allow peace to reign in their respective schools.
”
Adeosun urged the principals to keep their students indoor, saying any school whose students are found roaming the street risks government sanctions.
”Also, no Principal should admit new students into SS1 without the BECE result, and where there is overpopulation in school, the students should move to neighbouring schools.
“Vice Principal Academics should take charge of all examinations in the school, and staff should not be used as exam officers.
Any school found wanting will be sanctioned,” she said.
The statement added that the state government has approved the following fees in schools:
PTA:
JSS – 1,450
SSS – 1,500
NEW INTAKE:
JSS – 3,930
SSS – 3,980
TEXTBOOKS:
JSS – 4,500
SSS – 5,600
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
Prof. Promise Mebine, the Executive, National Mathematical Centre (NMC), has called for the establishment of a National Mathematical Sciences University to aid the teaching and learning of mathematics related courses.
Mebine made the call in a document made available to the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday in Abuja.
He said the university was necessary, considering the importance of mathematics and its applications in conjunction with the dearth of mathematicians in the Country.
According to him, the University, when operational, will award certificates and degrees like Postgraduate Diploma, Masters and Doctor of Philosophy Degrees.
He explained that this would be in the five programmes of the Centre namely; Mathematics, Computer Science, Theoretical Physics, Statistics and Mathematical Sciences Education.
Mebine noted that measures were being taken to amend the Act of the National Mathematical Centre, adding that the proposal had been submitted to the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure realisation.
While reiterating his drive to reposition the study of mathematics in the country, he said various training and workshops were organised by the centre to highlight the core values in the area of mathematics.
He said the monthly seminars were conducted under Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) as well as Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in line with the respective programmes of the Centre.
“There is also the conduct of the National Olympiad examinations and subsequent participation of Nigeria in the various International Olympiads”.
He listed the Olympiads to include the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO), International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO), International Physics Olympiad (IPHO),
Others he mentioned were International Chemistry Olympiad (ICHO), International Biology Olympiad (IBO) and International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).
“It is also worthy to note that Nigeria won three medals, a gold medal and two bronzes in the 2022 International Olympiad Competitions among others”.
Mebine further restated the Centre’s efforts geared towards achieving its core mandate and value.
On development of resource materials, the director said that the need for quality resource materials in mathematical sciences could not be overemphasised.
He said that the centre provided teaching modules from JSS 1 to JSS 3 and SSS 1 to SSS 3 including Digital Mathematics.
“Also, textbooks on perceived difficult concepts in mathematics were provided,” he said.
Mebine further said that the centre was collaborating with the state government and some parastatal agencies to drive its mandate.
He said that the centre established and sustained collaboration with national and international bodies in areas of research, modeling and personnel development.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
NAN ) A 62-year-old mother of five children, Mrs Tina Daniel has called for a social support system for teenage girls impregnated while in school and could not complete their schooling.
Daniel shared her personal experience as a pregnant, school-going teenager with the News Agency of Nigeria in Karu, Nasarawa State on Monday.
She said the social support system was needed to help the child to go through pregnancy and return to school thereafter.
Daniel, who got pregnant at age 14 while in Junior Secondary School Class 3, dropped out of school, but is now mother of four daughters and a son, doing well in their various endeavours.
She said that as a pregnant child, she went through lots of stigmatisation in her neighbourhood, where she was nicknamed “Virgin Mary’’; in church; among her peers and everywhere she went.
She added that the trauma was so deep that she almost decided not to return to school.
She stressed that the stigmatisation and resultant trauma were major factors responsible for the growing number of out-of-school girl-child in the country.
“I was in JSS 3 when I got pregnant for a fellow parishioner who declined responsibility when my parents invited him over to Social Welfare Department.
That was the end of our relationship.
“I was in the choir, while he was an usher.
“All the counselling I was getting in the church and outside the church was to abort the pregnancy so as not to have a bleak future as I was told that the alternative was to stop schooling completely.
“I made up my mind not to abort the pregnancy,’’ she said.
Daniel thanked her mother for accepting her and the situation and for supporting her in spite of her father’s insistence that she must leave his house.
She said she summoned courage to get a petty job and raised money to take care of her pregnancy and the child whom she later gave to her mother to nurse while she returned to school.
“I completed my Junior Secondary School and I was doing a part-time job with a school; earning little money to take care of my baby.
“I did not allow the earlier stigmatisation to limit me.
I returned to school and here I am at 62 years having graduates who are working.
“The daughter I carried all through the stigmatisation now heads a construction company in Abuja.
“If I had yielded to the pressure to abort the pregnancy, I won’t be seeing the girl today.
I may not even be alive and also wouldn’t have been able to help my siblings,’’ Daniel stressed.
She said her experience as a teenage expectant mother made her to resolve to set up an NGO to take care of the school needs of the girl-child.
Many stakeholders have declared that adolescent pregnancy remained a challenge and was responsible for the huge number of out-of-school children, especially in the northern parts of Nigeria.
Mrs Asabe Malami, Director, Social Development, Gombe State’s Ministry of Women Affairs told NAN that mothers, especially, have a crucial role to play in ensuring that the girl-child completes her schooling.
Malami, also the Chairperson, Association against Gender-Based Violence in Gombe State, charged mothers to stop using their girl-child to hawk wares during or after school hours.
She noted that women indulged in the harmful practice, whereas the girl child ought to be in school or receiving extra lessons like the male child.
“Children are not supposed to be hawking during school hours when their peers are in the classroom,’’ she said.
Malami noted also that the influx of rape survivors, insurgents and survivors of molestation from different crises had led to an upsurge in teenage pregnancies in the northern parts of the country.
“Parents, especially mothers must seek empowerment and ensure that their children go to school.
“Education opens doors for children,’’ she stressed.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
NAN ) The National Teachers’ Institute (NTI ) Kaduna, says it is currently training 69,000 students nationwide to become qualified and certified teachers.
This is being done through NCE, BED and PGDE programes by Distance Learning System across the country.
The Director and Chef Executive of the Institute, Prof. Musa Maitafsir disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Friday in Abuja on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of the 2022 Capacity Building Workshop Teachers.
Maitafsir also said that the Institute was currently upgrading 18,367 teachers to obtain certified teaching qualifications in Birnin, Adamawa and Yobe states.
He said that the training was being conducted under the Emergency Teacher Upgrading Programme ( (ETUP), with the active collaboration of the Federal Ministry of Education and the Teachers’ Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) and UNICEF.
Maitafsir said:” A total of 1,919 out of the said number of unqualified teachers have successfully acquired PGDE certificates in August,2022.
“They will sit for professional Qualifying Examinations organised by TRCN on the 9th and 10th of September,2022.
“The remaining candidates will complete their studies by the end of December, this year.
“This gesture needs to be extended to the entire regions of the country, so as to mould the unqualified and quack teachers currently impersonating teachers in some schools and colleges throughout the country.
”
Maitafsir stated that the Institute in was collaborating with the Federal Ministry of Education and UNICEF under the Global Partnership for Education ( GPE ).
“We have developed and currently producing remote learning materials in English and Mathematics for pupils of primary 1 to 6 and JSS 1 to 3.
“It is a GPE intervention given to 16 states i.
e. Bauchi, Benue, Ebonyi, Enugu, Gombe, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Nasarawa, Plateau, Niger, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara.
“This is to mitigate learning loss as a result of schools’ closure due to COVID-19 using remote learning materials of English and Mathematics domesticated in Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo.
“The materials are targeted to reach pupils of 43,000 schools in the most marginalised communities to complement loss of learning or bridge the gap created due to COVID-19 lockdown of schools in the intervention states.
”
The NTI Chief Executive said that the contents were also contextualised for airing on radio and television for wider coverage in all the 36 states and FCT.
This, Maitafsir said, “was in an attempt to embrace the new normal situation of teaching and learning in Nigeria.
” ( NAN ) ng )
NewsSourceCredit: NAN
The Parent Teacher Association, King’s College Lagos, says it expends over N58 million yearly as intervention to sustain the goals of the founding fathers of the 113 year-old institution.
The Chairman of the association, Mr Sunday Ameh, said this at a news conference on Friday in Lagos.
According to him, the body will not relent in its resolve to collaborate with the college, in its quest to sustain moral and academic excellence among students.
Ameh was speaking against the backdrop of reports in some quarters that the association was imposing unjustified levies on parents.
The reports alleged that the levies were outside the government-approved N5,000 PTA levy per term, for all the unity colleges across the country.
Some online media reported that some parents had stormed the main campus of the college on Thursday, in protest of an alleged imposition of extra PTA levy by the leadership of the association.
They were also said to be protesting against claims that the management of the college, had made it mandatory to transfer all day students to the boarding facilities.
Reacting, the chairman debunked the claims, describing them as malicious, wicked and misleading.
“Just yesterday, I learnt that a group of persons, who claimed to be Kings College parents, came to the school gate and were protesting.
“I was not on campus at the time.
However, let me make it clear that our doors have always been open to listen and address all concerns of parents.
“The issue in question is that we had an emergency PTA meeting on July 30, to attend to some pressing matters, including academic, issues of indiscipline, high cost of items and others, that we could not attend to, before students embarked on vacation.
“All of these was to ensure that we improve and sustain standard of the college and provide conducive environment for teaching and learning to thrive.
“At that meeting, therefore, having tabled all the challenges facing the college, parents, having looked at the issues critically and in their magnanimity and wisdom, came up with a resolution to assist the college in anyway possible, in a bid to keep it going.
”
He said a motion was moved and was seconded by other parents, and they agreed that they would be paying an extra N3,000 aside the N5000 PTA levy paid every term.
This, the chairman said, was to cushion the effects of the challenges raised by the association’s executives.
“For the purpose of clarity, the decision to pay this extra levy was strictly made by parents.
“It has nothing to do with imposition or increase in levy of PTA by the executive or by the college management, as being speculated,” he said.
Ameh expressed surprise at the news, noting that it was misleading and disturbing.
He said that the extra levy was to assist in the area of diesel and waste disposal for both campuses.
Ameh also gave an insight into areas of intervention by the association,
He said that disposal of waste generated in both campuses and the generation of power was depleting the meagre resources of the association, in the face of the current economic reality.
“Before now, for instance, we used to do evacuation of waste with the sum of N200,000 on both campuses per month.
“This has since changed, especially with the high cost of diesel currently.
“Since the issue of high cost of diesel, the cost for PSP covering King’s College has jumped N70,000 per trip, which is now done weekly.
“We managed this for about two months and it has put us in a very high cost of maintenance.
We can no longer carry out other tasks on these campuses, aside evacuation of refuse,” he said.
Amen said that the PTA, however, had teachers and non-teaching staff on its salary bills monthly, which amount to N4 million.
“We have a total of 53 teaching staff and 22 non-teaching staff, making a total of 75 in all, on our payroll.
“Aside this, we also handle cleaning of the two campuses and pay N320,000 monthly to our cleaning contractors, N560,000 to clear the incinerators in both campuses, as well as maintenance of electricals and plumbing issues.
“In all of these, we achieved without any extra leveies.
It is from our meagre resources,” the chairman exlained.
Similarly, the Principal of the college, Mr Andrew Agada, debunked stories making the round that all students of the institution had been mandated to live on campus as boarders.
He said there was no way such could be feasible, considering the fact that the college lacked the facility to achieve it.
“On the said day at the meeting and based on past experience, I discussed with the parents on the possibility of having all the JSS 1 to JSS 3 students as boarders, as there was enough space for that.
“Other students aside this category, are already exiting, and for them, it is still optional.
“We never made any comment saying that all the students must be boarders, as we do not have the capacity to do that.
“The essence of my proposal is to better manage these children, both morally and academically.
It will check late coming too, truancy and aimless roaming around,” he said.
Ameh said there were instances where a few students had been involved in accidents right in front of the college gate.
“I personally rushed them to hospital, picked up the bills, before contacting their parents.
“These, and other acts of indiscipline is what we are trying to check and nothing more.
“There was no time I mandated an all-boarding mode for the college,” Agada said.
He appealed to parents not to be deceived by what he described as malicious intents of mischief makers.
NewsSourceCredit: NAN