11th July, 2018
The Nasarawa State chapter of National Parents’ Teachers’ Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN) has urged the state government to ban child begging and enforce its free and compulsory education policy.
Mr Umaru Ebenya, the state Chairman of NAPTAN, made the appeal in his address to the Commissioner of Education, Alhaji Aliyu Tijjani, on Wednesday.
According to him, the ban on child begging has become necessary to ensure that every child goes to school in keeping with the education policy in the state.
He decried the presence of child beggars in the state, stressing the need for relevant stakeholders to tackle the menace.
The chairman also expressed concern over the falling standard of education, saying that most graduates of secondary schools in the state could hardly make a good sentence.
“Most Primary six pupils and graduates of secondary schools in the state cannot speak English fluently hence a call for serious concern,” he added
Ebenya said that the government should collaborate with the traditional rulers in ensuring effective supervision of schools as it was the practice in their respective domains in the past.
He, therefore, said that traditional rulers’ involvement would ease the problems in public schools as they would report to the government regularly for its immediate and necessary action.
Responding, the commissioner expressed gratitude to the association for its contributions to educational development in the state.
He assured the association that the government would look into their various suggestions and implement them.