UPDATE: Soludo’s Free Basic Education Is As Big Deceit – APC Group

The Executive Governor of Anambra State, Prof. Charles Chukwuma Soludo, officially opened what he called “free and qualitative education across all government owned nursery, primary, and junior secondary school classes in Anambra State,” to the dismay of the Anambra State Chapter of The South East APC Young Progressives Forum. The governor claims that all previous taxes, fees, and dues—totaling in the thousands of dollars—paid by pupils in these basic education sessions have been eliminated.

Therefore, we are baffled as to how Governor Soludo will herald the inauguration of a plan that has supposedly been in place since 2004. Why did it take Governor Soludo a year and five months to put an end to a practise where children in elementary 1-6 and JSS 1-3 who were not supposed to pay any fees were forced to do so in contravention of the UBE Act (as domesticated by Anambra State)?

Soludo Abolishes Tuition Fees In All Anambra Junior Secondary Schools

To be clear for Ndi Anambra, the formal announcement of the allegedly free and high-quality education for pupils in kindergarten through third grade (encompassing Primary 1 to JSS 3) and the excitement that follows are not about “tuition fees,” as this has long been made free by the previous administrations starting from Dr Chris NGIGE down to Governor Obiano.

A primary school student in a public school in Anambra State used to pay between 1,500 and 3,000 Naira per term, depending on the institution and where it was located, despite the tuition-free policies. Exam fees, portal fees, library fees, and other fees were all covered by this lengthy list of these illegal levies, which included roughly 10 items.

The Anambra State Chapter of South East APC Young Progressives Forum requests the following clarifications from the governor:

1. The several thousands of Naira in termly fees and levies that students in primary 1-6 and JSS 1-3 were paying before now, which purse were they entering? who authorised them?
2. Did Anambra State access the UBE 50% marching grant from the Federal Government meant to assist states ensure basic education is free in their schools? If yes, why did the state government still allow students to be exploited and fleeced?
3. Now that you have abolished all fees, we want to know if you have also stopped PTA levies in all public primary and junior secondary schools? This is another area where corruption thrives in Public Schools.
4. Has the APGA led Government in Anambra been providing Students in Anambra State in the basic education category textbooks in the 4 and 5 of the core subject areas of primary and junior secondary schools respectively mandated by the UBEC as part of what UBE grants to states covers?

This is crucial because education is not just about going to school but having instructional materials to learn with. We are aware that most primary schools and many secondary schools in Anambra lack decent school libraries without adequate textbooks for the students to use. We therefore ask Governor Soludo to give specific answers to the SCOPE of the free basic education he reintroduced. This is for the sake of accountability and transparency.

Top 10 Secondary Schools In Anambra, Date Founded, School Fees, And Awards

We are also constrained to highlight the very poor state of our public schools across Anambra State. Anambra public primary and secondary schools are fast becoming antiquities with no concerted efforts by the state government to carry out total overhaul of structures in our schools to meet modern standards. We see the kind of model schools poorer states like Borno, Gombe etc are building for their students and wonder why it seems a taboo to build modern, aesthetic schools in Anambra State. It simply means there is zero political will to build such.

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