The Federal Capital Territory Administration has said it will hold principals and school administrators responsible for any low turn out of students in public schools.
The Secretary of the FCTA Education Secretariat, Dr Danlami Hayyo, dropped the warning when he led the management team of the secretariat for the 2024 second term resumption visitation and inspection to selected schools in the Territory.
Satisfied with the turn out of students in the schools visited, the Secretary however, warned that the administration will not take it likely with any school found to record low student turn out, as such development, he said, translates to failure on the part of the school authority.
The Secretary therefore vowed to replace such school administrators saying, “I like to call the attention of the teachers to continue with their dedication to duty, because we’re not going to leave any stone unturn. When we discover a school whereby teachers are ready but students are not present or the turn out of the students is low, definitely we are going to change the administration of the school. We are going to bring someone capable hands that can lead.”
Hayyo, stressed that education is a priority of the current administration and so will ensure they protect the sanctity of the sector.
“Like i said earlier, one of the priorities of the minister is education. We can’t wait until the minister see something bad before we take action, definitely we are going to curb the problem.”
Earlier, the Secretary and his team visited select schools where they expressed satisfaction over the turnout of students and teachers in both public and private schools on the first day of school resumption for second term of the 2023/2024 academic session.
Some of the schools visited include Government Science and Technical College, GSTC, Area 3, Government Secondary School, Tundun-Wada, Junior Secondary School Wuse Zone 6, Glisten Group of Schools, Jahi.
According to the Secretary, “the turnout for the first day of resumption is encouraging. I expected to see a low attendance rate considering the Christmas and New Year break, since a lot of students traveled with their families out of Abuja. But fortunately for us, almost all the students are back and are ready for learning.
“One of the very important parts of our inspection is to identify some challenges and problems of the schools. We have seen, and taken note of all information. We are going to take back to the honorable Minister and like you all know, education is one of the key priority areas of this administration.
“The minister promised that the sector will, given special consideration. That’s why in the 2023 budget, the sum of 13.1 billion naira was approved to be spent on renovations, construction, and provision of chairs and furniture’s for schools in FCT which is very encouraging.”
Also speaking, Mr. Akor Joseph, principal of Government Secondary School, Tudun-Wada said, “We are just back from the Christmas holidays, and most of these students traveled with their parents, that’s why you see this number of students.”
