Anambra State Governor, Chukwuma Soludo, has described as criminal denial of any child access to education, especially with the current free education policy in the state.
He stressed that no child in the state should be out of school for any reason.
Soludo stated this yesterday, while responding to a six-point demand contained in the speech by the Speaker of Children’s Parliament, Victory Ekwunife, during the occasion of Children’s Day celebration in the state.
Governor Soludo announced full enforcement of a campaign on zero tolerance for out-of-school children in the state. He restated that parents of children found roaming the streets during school hours would be arrested and detained for such practice.
He said, “We’ll commence full enforcement. If we grab any child within school hours, we’ll criminalise it for the parents. We’ll arrest the parents and lock him/her up for a few days and insist the child goes to school.
“For me, it’s criminal to deny any child education, especially now we have free education. Yet, one prefers roaming the streets begging or hawking banners during school hours.
“As part of our reforms, we make the punishment lie on the parents. If he spends two days with the enforcement agencies, he/she will be compelled to send the children to school.
He added, “Currently, Anambra has the lowest out-of-school children in Nigeria. The last figure by UNESCO, which we think is even outdated, was 2.9%, because that was before the free education policy.
“Some states have over 60%. But our goal is to drive it to zero. You may still see pockets of kids loitering here and there. But when you compare ours with other states, Anambra is far way ahead.”
Soludo, who had earlier delivered President Bola Tinubu’s speech to Nigerian children, also promised to provide suitable land for the Juvenile Correctional Centre in the state.
“Putting child offenders in the same cell with adults isn’t right. We need to get a different place for them.
“We’ll also give more attention to inclusive education, especially for persons with disabilities, as well as free toll line desk offices for abused children,” he added.
Highpoints of the event were march past by various schools in the state, cutting of anniversary cake, presentation of prizes to best performing schools, among other activities.
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