Delta State Government is to begin the process for the closure of all illegal private schools throughout the state.

The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, made the call in Asaba yesterday, Wednesday, October 9, 2019, when members of Private Schools Owners of Nigeria (APSON) paid him a courtesy visit.

He said that the Inspectorate Department of the ministry “will soon embark on the closure of private schools that have not completed their registration processes that will qualify them to operate.”

Chief Ukah disclosed that “all private schools that have provincial approvals to operate and are still in default of the registration requirements two years after getting the provisional approvals will be shut down.”

The Basic and Secondary Education Commissioner frowned on the revelation that private schools promote all their students to the next class at the end of every academic session, cautioning that such action is not in the best interest of the children who failed their promotion examination.

Earlier, the State Chairman of APSON, Comrade Keno Emiaso, told the Commissioner that the association has maintained a cordial relationship with the ministry since its inception and stated their resolve “to further strengthen the harmonious relationship with the ministry in improving educational standard in the state.”

In another development, the Commissioner also on Wednesday received members of Polaris Care Foundation, led by the National Coordinator, Barr. Emmanuel Utomi, represented by the Deputy State Coordinator, Comrade Mrs. Ngozi Adigwe Diayi.

In an address, Barr. Utomi said that it is no longer news that the rate youths and teenagers engage in cultism and drug abuse is on the increase which will spell doom for upcoming generation if not checked by relevant authorities and concerned groups and individuals.

“It is in the spirit of fighting this menace that the club is planning to organise an awareness sensitisation campaign in primary and secondary schools in the state through sports and other forms of events such as quiz, debate, health talk, documentary and jingles among others,” he revealed.

•PHOTO: Delta Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, during Wednesday’s courtesy visit by members of the Private Schools Owners of Nigeria

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