Hammed Shittu
18 November 2008
Ilorin — The oldest secondary schools in Kwara State capital, Ilorin, Government Secondary School and Queen Elizabeth Secondary School are to become models in science education, the Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Alhaji Bolaji Abdullahi has said.
The Commissioner, who gave the hint at an event organised by the 1978 set of old boys of Government Secondary School (GSS), to mark 30 years of their graduation from the school, recently said the schools would a represented heritage of the state and would not be left to degenerate.
Abdullahi said the state would not pull out of the exchange programme among the northern states despite the recent violent destruction of property by students under the programme in GSS, which affected vital documents, buildings and a vehicle of the school.
He advised parents and guardians to support the ongoing move to reposition education in the state saying, "it is disheartening that some parents are unwilling to pay the cost required for their children to receive quality education that government planned to be obtainable in schools."
He said some parents had sought to withdraw their children from the government colleges as a result of the compulsory boarding system it introduced, because they could not afford the N17, 000 boarding fees. This, he said, was a threat the giant strides of the state government in providing quality education in the state.
Abdullahi said, "when one of the parents came to me pleading that she wanted to withdraw her child from the school because she could not pay the border fee, I asked her how much she and her husband spend on recharge cards every day and it came to her mind that the bill was more than N17,000 every month and she could not speak again."
In his speech, Head Boy of the 1978 set, Ikechukwu Akporo urged the government not only to keep up with the exchange programme but also re-extend it to include the South East zone of the
country.
Akporo, who was represented by one of his mates, Hon. Kayode Omotose said the South East was included in the programme during their set and that he was a beneficiary.
He said the academic and moral discipline they received in their days in the school have made them responsible members of the society. He donated some furniture for the use of teachers in appreciation of this value and assured the school that more of such donations would be made in due course.
The Principal, Ganiyu O. Kadir commended the old boys for the gesture. He assured the government of preparation of the school for the compulsory border system which will begin as from next session.
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