The Abia State Government has vowed to protect smart schools currently under construction in the state by deploying personnel from the Abia State Homeland Security to secure the facilities from vandals and other criminal elements.
The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Goodluck Chinedu Ubochi, stated this on Saturday during the signing of a contract between the Abia State Government and Blue Giraffe Ltd. The commissioner, who noted that all 17 local government areas of the state would receive one smart school each, added that three additional schools would be built —one in each of the state’s three senatorial districts.
He explained that the construction of the 20 smart schools represents the first phase of a broader initiative by Governor Alex Otti to build more of such schools across the state, aimed at equipping Abia students to compete with their global peers. The commissioner, who emphasised that the smart schools would be open to children from both wealthy and poor backgrounds, made it clear that no child from a poor home would face discrimination in enrolment or learning.
Additionally, the Special Adviser to Governor Alex Otti on Basic and Secondary Education, Kenechukwu Nwosu, warned that any attempt to loot the schools would result in arrests and prosecution. He noted that closed-circuit cameras would be installed around the schools to capture the faces of anyone approaching the premises.
Nwosu stated that the digitisation of Abia’s school system would give children in the state an advantage over their peers in major examinations and enable them to compete with global standards. He assured that the project would not be a white elephant but would be sustained.
Speaking after the signing of the agreement, Rear Admiral Harry Ngonadi (retd) and Orieji Okwara-Emele of Blue Giraffe Ltd stated that with the introduction of smart schools, the use of chalk and other traditional analogue teaching methods would gradually be phased out of the Abia State education system. “What we are trying to do is that the teachers will no longer have to use chalk, it will be a smartboard, for the 20 pilot schools, and others will follow later,” said Okwara-Emele.
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