Press Release


7th October, 2019.


Kwara State Government should stop extorting parents through sale of textbooks, a group cautions.


1. We, the People's Voice, strongly rise against the backdrop of Kwara State Ministry of Education trying to cause more hardship for parents and guardians through sales of Mathematics and English Language textbooks to JSS1 and SS1 Students in every Public Schools in Kwara State.

2. It is quite disheartening that this is coming at a period when scholars have come to the agreement that education is the next big thing which will earn Nigeria enormous revenues. We expect the government to be looking at how to improve its quality by providing necessary infrastructures and instructional materials such as textbooks for free especially in core areas such as Mathematics and English Language.

3. If it will not be out of place, we will love to implore the Kwara State Governor to borrow a good leave from his Oyo State conterpart who is already in the process of refunding over ₦28million extorted from students to their parents and guardians. This was after Governor Seyi Makinde has repositioned the state education policy from profit making venture to people driven; returned over 43 per cent of its out-of-school children population back to class in Oyo State; renovation of 100 state-owned schools in which 40 have been completed, and 60 are at advanced stages of renovation and close to completion.

4. Like many people, we are as well curious to know what stops Kwara State Ministry of Education to formally adopt the REUSE OF OLD TEXTBOOKS in all public schools across the state. The heaps of textbooks in many homes is becoming alarming since they have been rejected by govenment on the ground that there are newer versions in the bookstore. We cannot afford to start thinking that Ministry of Education and some governments approved Publishers have formed an alliance to extort parents every session through the sales of textbooks. The insensitivity of the government to the economic condition of the parents/guardians has further worsened the situation.

5. Parents and guardians are already groaning because of the harsh economic situation in the country, the government should not be adding more pains to the precarious condition. The present APC government in Kwara State came in with a lot of promises to improve the living standard of our people and not to harden it. The government should use whatever intellectual honesty and mental discipline to drive people oriented programmes which will provide a leverage for these learners to become the pride of the state in the future. For instance, Ogun State Government scrapped the N3700 charges on all public Secondary school Students by the last administration

6. In lieu of the above, we implore the Kwara State Government, through its Ministry of Education, to reverse its decision whereby parents pay exorbitantly for these textbooks(N2,900) despite efforts by some individuals in the society to provide these for free. The world is becoming a knowledge driven economy and Kwara should not be left behind in the name of politics and sentiments which could put a clog in the wheel of our progress.

7. Without fear of equivocation or favour, we want to make it clear that any attempt by the Kwara State Government to play dumb and deaf on this subject matter will amount to running an anti-poor education policy and it will have bad effects on the reputation and image of Kwara State around the globe.

8. A stitch in time saves nine.


Signed:

Comrade Abdulraheem Olaitan,
Assistant Publicity Secretary,
The People's Voice.

Let's give governor AA till next year May....we'll know if we have been deceived by o to ge.

Probably from Pdp in disguise.. Party of crooks

PDP paid agent you are i believe.