The Abia State Government has announced a 100 percent increase in enrollment into Public Schools across the State.
The Commissioner for Information, Prince Okey Kanu who disclosed this while briefing Journalists on the outcome of this Week’s Executive Council Meeting presided over by Governor Alex Otti, attributed the 100 percent increase to the reforms being implemented in the Education Sector by the Governor Alex Otti administration including the newly recruited teachers.
Prince Kanu also listed other Policies in the Education Sector to include introduction of Free Education in Primary and Junior Secondary School, regular payment of Teachers Salaries, Financial compensation for Teachers posted to rural areas, increase in the retirement age of Teachers from 60 to 65 years.
The rest are regular Training and Retraining of Teachers, improvement in the Learning Environment and adoption of new Curricular for Schools among others.
He assured that the State Government is closely monitoring deployment of teachers to ensure they report to duty, particularly in rural communities, following complaints of absenteeism.
Responding to questions from Journalists the Special Adviser to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mr Ferdinand Ekeoma revealed that issues relating to promotion, leave allowances and salary harmonization in the Civil Service are being handled holistically and would soon be resolved.
Mr Ekeoma explained that the State Government is working with the Head of Service, the Accountant General, and the Commissioner for Finance to address pending issues relating to worker salaries and other allowances.
On promotion arrears, the Governor’s media Adviser clarified that the Government decided to solve the problem holistically including that of teachers and however, urged workers to provide empirical evidence of alleged salary disparities across local government areas to help the Government investigate and harmonise salary structures.
