Childhood education: Ogun Govt takes sensitisation to markets, motor parks

The Ogun State Government has visited markets and motor parks in Ijebu-Ode, Sagamu, Ilaro, and Abeokuta local government areas to sensitise parents and guardians on the importance of childhood education.

Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology Prof. Abayomi Arigbabu, while speaking during the sensitisation campaign on Friday, said facilities in public schools and those for children with special needs across the state had been upgraded to a conducive teaching and learning environment.

Arigbabu stressed that free registration for children aged three to six into pre-nursery, nursery and Primary One classes for the 2024-2025 academic session had commenced.

He urged parents and guardians to take their wards to nearby public primary schools from Monday to Friday, between 9 am and 1 pm, as well as ensure proper monitoring of their wards’ academic and moral activities in schools, for a successful and sustainable future.

The commissioner submitted that the government had invested in building the capacity of teachers, built new classrooms, modern laboratories, computer rooms and smart classrooms, and provided furniture to ensure a seamless teaching and learning process in schools across the state.

“Registration has started now. Parents should enrol their children free of charge in any public school close to them,” he said.

On his part, the permanent secretary in the ministry, Mrs Oluwatosin Oloko, enjoined parents to be patient and allow their wards to go through the normal process of learning, to make them firm and attain maturity as they progress to higher institutions.

Contributing, Executive Secretary of the State Universal Basic Education Board, SUBEB, Dr Mikail Lawal, advised parents to inculcate discipline and morals into their children and live by good examples.

In their separate remarks, the chairman of the Association of Primary School Headteachers of Nigeria, AOPSHON, Yewa South Local Government Area, Babatunde Adekunle, a consultant to the state governor on religious matters, Sheikh Lawal, and chairman of the Parents Teachers Association, Ansar-ul-Deen Primary School 1 and 2 Sabo, Ilaro, among others, commended the state government for taking the education sector to an enviable pedestal. They promised to mobilise children for enrolment and also campaign against child abuse.