Imo Governor Rochas Okorocha on Wednesday dissolved all Parents/Teachers Associations (PTAs) in both primary and secondary schools in the state.
Okorocha announced the dissolution in Owerri while addressing staff of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) and those of the primary and secondary education management boards on the plans to restructure the school system.
He observed that some teachers and other individuals used the PTAs to extort money from students, noting that anyone caught parading himself as a PTA member would be prosecuted.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the governor also temporary dissolved all zonal academic offices in the state.
He said that sanity would return to schools while teachers would be made to wear uniforms to schools.
He also said that primary schools would be made to own farms which products would be exported.
Okorocha announced that some radical changes would be made in the school system, including merging of schools and explained that his administration was bent on bequeathing the state with befitting learning environments.
The governor explained that the merger was necessary because some schools had insufficient students or teachers while others were too close to each another.
“Any school without up to 300 children cannot be called a school. There is need to bring the schools together to have a proper school; to have enough teachers to cater for the students.
“There should be a radical change in the academic system of the state. The government has removed the burden of school fees, shoes, books and other school materials.
There is need to build a collective institution that is befitting of the state,” he said.???????????
Okorocha, who appealed to the school authorities to support the government’s efforts, said the state had ordered for N1 million school uniforms, including shoes and bags, for children in both primary and secondary schools.
He noted that there was abnormality in the country’s education system, saying that he planned to make the state’s education system enviable and capable of attracting foreign students like Ghana and South Africa.
He said the state would establish an education rescue mission monitoring team in its inspectorate division to be made up of men and women of integrity.
The governor explained that the team would internally supervise the schools and report to the ministry of education.
Earlier, the state’s Commissioner for Education, Mrs Ada Obasi, and the Executive Chairman of SUBEB, Dr (Mrs) Uche Ejiogu, briefed the governor on the state of affairs in the schools and presented the members of staff to him. (NAN)