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Inadequate infrastructure, facilities and various hidden levies have been identified as some of the major issues affecting the smooth running of free basic education in Kogi State.
This was contained in a communiqué issued at the end of a three-day training and roundtable discussion on “Education and Promoting the Rights in Schools” for policy and lawmakers as well as civil societies in Kogi State organized by ActionAid Nigeria.
Head of ActionAid Nigeria, Andrew Mamedu, said the discussion was aimed at raising critical voices for education financing and to expose participants to the 10 charter of rights set as global indicators of quality public education.
Among the charter of rights are; right to free and compulsory education, right to adequate infrastructure, right to non-discrimination, right to safe and non-violent environment, right to participate in decision making, right to quality learning among others.
A field work at a school in one of the community revealed that not all the public junior secondary schools in the state were within the Universal Basic Education Board (UBEB) scheme and students were charged hidden fees for books that were meant to be free and for maintenance of facilities in the school.
The classroom was also overcrowded with an average of about 100 students per class in the junior secondary school as against the approved number of 40 students per class.
It was therefore recommended that, the federal, state and the local governments should respect and protect the rights of the child with regard to free and basic education and also provide schools across the states with relevant infrastructure to make learning convenient.
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