The Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opia has called for the speedy passage of the Out of School children (OSC) bill in Bayelsa State. He said the legal instrument will tackle the scourge across the state.
The Minister made the call on Tuesday at the flag-off ceremony of the National Campaign on out-of-school children in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa state capital.
The compulsory Education Bill is awaiting passage. The bill seeks to make mandate parent and guardian send their children to school to rid Bayelsa state of out-of-school children and school dropouts.
Under the bill, parents of children of school age between 6-18 years who are out of school will be arrested and prosecuted.
According to the Minister,60 percent of out-of-school children in Bayelsa state are girls.
Furthermore, the Minister said the Federal government through the instrumentality of the Universal Basic Education (UBEC) is doing everything humanly possible to assist the states to strengthen basic education by confronting factors that deny the children early education, including extreme poverty, ignorance and access to education among others.
The Minister said the sensitisation is designed to ensure massive enrolment of children in basic and primary schools and should be taken seriously by all stakeholders, adding that it is a moral and legal obligation, the discharge of which will guarantee the future of the children and by necessary implication, the nation.
The Minister said no parents in Bayelsa state have any excuse to keep their child out of school anymore.
In his keynote address to the occasion, the Governor of Bayelsa state, His Excellency, Douye Diri said education remains the first, second and third priority of his administration even as he announced that there are two hundred and fifty thousand children out of school in Bayelsa, particularly in the ruler areas.
Governor Diri appealed to the people of the state to cooperate with his administration in the implementation of relevant laws on out-of-school children to help rid the state of out-of-school children.
He further revealed that relevant laws are already in place while the only requirement is for all hands to be on deck for its implementation
He challenged the State Assembly to put in place a sound oversight mechanism to ensure that the relevant rules are implemented.
Governor Douye asked everyone to see education beyond certificate acquisition with an emphasis on skills acquisition.
Dominica Nwabufo
