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406,450 teaching and learning items distributed to public basic schools across Akwa Ibom.
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199 primary and junior secondary schools rehabilitated across the state between 2023 and 2026.
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AKSUBEB adopts a whole-school model, with plans for integrated water, sanitation, security, solar lighting and teachers’ quarters.
September 22, (THEWILL) – The Akwa Ibom State Government has distributed 406,450 teaching and learning materials and rehabilitated 199 primary and junior secondary schools across the state in a three-year intervention aimed at improving the quality of public basic education.
The intervention, which covered the period from 2023 to 2026, comes as the government begins a fresh sensitisation campaign to encourage parents to patronise public schools, following increased investments in infrastructure, learning materials and teacher development.
Executive Chairman of the Akwa Ibom State Universal Basic Education Board (AKSUBEB), Rt. Hon. Anietie Etuk, disclosed this yesterday in Uyo during the Ministerial Media Briefing on Education, organised to highlight the sector’s performance under.
Governor Umo Eno’s ARISE Agenda
Etuk said the 406,450 items distributed to schools included textbooks, curriculum guides, desks, chairs and other utility equipment designed to improve teaching and learning.
He said the 199 schools rehabilitated across the state’s local government areas benefited from the construction and renovation of classroom blocks, administrative offices, perimeter fencing, water schemes and modern toilet facilities.
According to him, the board is now adopting a “whole-school intervention model” in line with the governor’s model school policy, under which selected schools would receive comprehensive interventions rather than isolated projects.
He explained that the model would combine perimeter security, clean water supply, modern sanitation, solar lighting and teachers’ quarters, with the objective of creating a conducive environment for both teachers and pupils.
Etuk also announced a new teacher recruitment policy under which teachers would henceforth be recruited from communities close to their areas of deployment.
He said the policy was intended to reduce teacher absenteeism and the effect of long daily journeys on teachers’ productivity.
The SUBEB chairman added that the board had commenced capacity-building programmes for teachers and School-Based Management Committees (SBMCs) to strengthen community ownership and ensure that facilities provided in public schools were properly maintained.
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The Commissioner for Education, Prof. Ubong Essien Umoh, said the state government had also introduced measures including scholarships, bursaries and examination fee subsidies to improve enrolment and academic performance.
However, with many parents still opting for private schools despite the cost of tuition and other fees, the government is expected to intensify sensitisation to draw attention to the facilities, learning resources and other support now available in public schools.
The commissioner said the government’s investments in public education were intended to make the schools more attractive and provide children with access to quality education without placing excessive financial burdens on their parents.
Commissioner for Information, Rt. Hon. Aniekan Umanah, also clarified that capital infrastructure allocations under SUBEB were separate from funds earmarked for teacher gratuities, matching grants and direct student bursaries.
The briefing also featured updates on vocational skills programmes and youth empowerment initiatives being implemented as part of the administration’s broader human capital development agenda.
A senior education stakeholder in the state, Dr Esther Ekanem, who commented on the development, noted that the government’s next challenge should be to communicate these improvements directly to parents, many of whom continue to pay substantial fees in private schools because of perceptions about public education.
“The government needs to take the sensitisation beyond announcements and deliberately engage parents at the community level. If public schools now have rehabilitated classrooms, learning materials, water, sanitation and other facilities, parents need to know what is available and why they should give these schools another opportunity.
“The objective should not be to condemn private schools, but to ensure parents understand that they can access quality education in public schools without paying the high fees associated with many private institutions,” Ekanem stated.
