Tuesday, February 17, 2009              

Govt to train 7.5m school dropouts
From Charles Ogugbuaja, Owerri

THE Federal Government has started deploying skills acquisition equipment to states for the training of the over 7.5 million children identified to have dropped out of school due to poverty and other related reasons.

In an opening address by the Assistant Director of Gender Education in the Federal Ministry of Education, Mrs. Stella Okafor, at a four-day workshop on students tutoring, mentoring and counselling in states with higher gender disparity under the 2008 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Interventions on Gender Education in Owerri yesterday, Okafor disclosed that equipment such as hair dressing, sewing machines and cooking equipment were distributed through the scheme in the South East states.

She pointed out that a management committee on the issue had been set up to ensure that the items were distributed effectively, stressing that the Federal Government was worried by the level of school dropouts in the country.

In order to encourage students, Okafor said textbooks were being distributed to schools, adding that the target by government was to distribute between eight and 10 textbooks to each student.

She said the sensitisation programme, would be sustained, because it was community-based, and urged monarchs and town union officials among other agents to assist the government's efforts.

The consultant to the programme, Suleman Adediran, disclosed that a total of 7.5 million children were recorded last year to have dropped out of schools in the country for reasons of poverty, adding that the Federal Government through his organisation had articulated the programme which was first identified in 2006. He noted that pupils, parents and teachers should help in tackling the problem.

The Commissioner for Education in Imo State, Prof. Jude Njoku, who was represented by an official of the ministry, Chief Victor Anuruo and the Executive Chairman of the Imo State Universal Education Board, Joseph Obi, represented by Mr. I. Anurigwo said the Imo State government had built about 100 classroom blocks in 27 councils.

He added that the state government was committed to enhancing the status of education in the state and wanted stakeholders to contribute to the success of the workshop.