The United Cement Company of Nigeria Limited on Thursday called on over 100 stakeholders in charge of School-Based Management Committees to take concrete steps to address the challenges facing selected secondary schools in Cross River State. The stakeholders were drawn from Government Secondary School, Akansoko in Akpabuyo Local Government Area; Government Secondary School, Aningeje in Akamkpa LGA and West African People Institute, in Calabar Municipality, which are under the operational base of UniCem.
The SBMCs were established by the Federal Government to act as a bridge between schools and the communities they serve, by planning and implementing activities that will lead to improved learning outcomes.
It is a voluntary group that is made up of teachers, parents and leaders of community-based groups.
Speaking at the end of a two-day refresher programme organised for stakeholders in the selected schools, Corporate Affairs Director, Mr. Ita Ayi, said UniCem would continue to ensure proper management of the schools for improvement in the quality of education.
He said the company, through its education partner, Gede Foundation, initiated the refresher training and review meeting for the three SBMCs in order to drive them to take concrete steps to improve performances.
Ayi said, “UniCem will continue to support government initiatives aimed at improving education, because, education remains a key pillar in the company. This initiative is one of our modest contributions to the improvement in the quality of education in public schools.”
Programme Coordinator of Gede Foundation, Mrs. Ekaette Udoekong, said areas of needs as identified by the stakeholders include the provision of portable water to the selected schools, mending of leaking roofs and providing toilet facilities.
Udoekong explained that the objective of the two-day refresher programme was to rekindle the respective SBMCs to come out with workable action plans.
“The objective was to refresh them on their roles and responsibilities and make them bring out action plans on how to solve these challenges. They hardly meet regularly. So it was meant to find solutions on the challenges raised,” she said.
http://www.punchng.com/education/firm-decries-challenges-in-criver-schools/
