Primary schools in
Calabar South Local Government Area of Cross River State are to be
provided with libraries that will be well stocked with books and 5,000
desks under the current fiscal year to facilitate teaching and learning.
Also, under the
educational package for the year, branded exercise books will be
distributed free of charge to primary school pupils. This gesture,
chairman of the Council, Ekeng Henshaw explained, is to encourage
children to go to school and also to assist indigent parents.
Mr Henshaw
unveiled this package while receiving in audience the current Carnival
Calabar Queen, Adaeze Pricilla Elake, who visited his office at
Anantigha, the council headquarters, for the commencement of her tour
of public schools in the state.
He said it was a
deliberate policy of his government to encourage mass literacy in the
area hence the decision to invest in education. He commended the
Carnival Queen over her decision to begin her tour of schools in the
state from Calabar South.
“Your presence in
our council gives us joy. You are a shining example to the youth. You
won this crown through sheer determination and intelligence. You have
shown that beauty and brains go together. Certainly the upcoming
generation will emulate you. This campaign on education of children is
timely. It will help to stimulate the interest of young people in
education,” he said.
Support for Carnival Queen
The chairman
promised to always support the programmes of the Carnival Queen
especially “her current advocacy visit to schools with the message of
abstinence from pre-marital sex and unsafe sex to avoid teenage
pregnancy and HIV/AIDS including other sexually transmitted infections.”
The chairman
handed over some items to the queen in support of her donations to
schools and orphanages in Calabar South. These included bags of rice,
toiletries, beverages and sundry gift items.
In her speech,
Miss Elake said she was in Calabar South to begin her tour of schools
in the area and that it was part of her responsibility as the Carnival
Queen to support and serve as an ambassador of the programmes of the
wife of the governor of Cross River State, Obioma Imoke, especially her
pet project, Mothers Against Child Abandonment (MACA).
She explained that
she would be taking the message of MACA to schools “so that school
children know the danger of teenage pregnancy and why they should take
their studies seriously.”
