By Jude Michael
The Anambra State House of Assembly has called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to direct the Commissioner for Education to engage the Public, Private and Mission Schools in addressing the exorbitant cost of textbooks, school uniforms purchase from exclusively designated vendors and mandatory extramural classes in the state.
In a motion sponsored by the Majority Leader and member representing Ekwusigo Constituency, Hon Ikenna Ofodeme, and 18 others during plenary in Awka, the House said the motion became necessary since education was a fundamental right, hence the need for every child to get equitable access to learning materials.
Moving the motion, Hon Ofodeme regretted that current practices in Anambra State primary and secondary schools of using textbooks as workbooks, uniform purchase from exclusively designated vendor and mandatory extramural classes, place undue financial burdens on parents and guardians, particularly for families with multiple children in the same school or class.
He expressed worry that those trends were counterproductive and that the new introduction of textbooks/workbooks in one single volume, especially, was gradually killing the good culture of use of school libraries and families creating library in their homes.
Many lawmakers, Hon Noble Igwe (Ogbaru 1); Augustine Ike (Nnewi North); Golden Iloh (Ihiala 2); Nonso Atuchukwu (Nnewi South 2); Jude Umennajiego (Onitsha South 2); and Obi Nweke (Anambra East); supported the motion as it addressed unwholesome practices in schools that had huge financial effects and attendant burden on parents in the face of current economic hardship in the country. This, they said, sabotaged the current free education in the state being initiated by Governor Soludo’s administration from nursery to senior secondary schools.
Responding, the Speaker of the House, Rt Hon Somtochukwu Udeze, appreciated the sponsor of the motion.
‘As lawmakers, we have three responsibilities to our constituencies: lawmaking, representation and oversight. I am suggesting that we make this a law by reviewing existing relevant laws, either by amendment or enacting another law,’ he said.
Udeze asked the Committees on Education and Judiciary to examine the laws establishing most of those schools to see where they could do an amendment or come with a fresh bill to make it a mandatory law in the state.
‘This is because it’s something that happens every day. Most times, if my daughter is preparing for school, I would be wondering if she is going for a church service; because you keep on changing school uniform, one apiece for each day of the week. Five different School uniforms in a week, including sportswear, all were bought from the school. We have to make it a law to address this problem,’ the speaker concluded.
Present at the plenary were members of the Anambra State Children’s Parliament led by her speaker, Rt Hon Iruoma Ekwunife, from Awka South, who later contributed to the motion raised above.
Also at plenary, two bills scaled through First Reading at the floor of the State Assembly. They were Anambra State Indigenous Medicine & Traditional Practices Bill 2024, and Anambra State Bursary & Scholarship Bill 2024.
