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By Madu Obi
The Anambra State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has said that it is not moved by the free education policy recently announced by Governor Chukwuma Soludo, asking the governor to clearly spell out what the new policy entails.
The party's position came on the heels of the announcement by Professor Soludo that all fees and levies have been abolished in all public schools in the state from nursery to JSS3.
He equally announced a reduction of levies in the senior secondary school level, which has been pegged at N5,000 for running cost for schools.
The levy for the running cost, he added, should not be remitted into government coffers.
Reacting on the new policy, however, APC, through its former state publicity secretary, Mr. Okelo Madukaife, urged the governor to clarify the issue to avoid obvious ambiguity.
The statement read in part: "The All Progressives Congress is unmoved, like discerning Anambra people, by the spontaneous pronouncement of Governor Chukwuma Soludo ,that a plethora of fees charged by Anambra State-owned schools will be stopped.
"Only a proper clarification backed by firm official action would point the direction that Soludo's government wants to go."
"For lack of this badly-needed clarity, these remarks made amid understandable cheers have been interpreted in different ways by different sections of the media; some as abolishing of additional payments after school fees and others as removal of fees (emplacement of free education) from nursery school to junior secondary school."
"The government of Anambra State now needs to clarify the nature and extent of the governor's new drive,which, according to the 19-month-old government, runs from this term."
"Without justifying the action of any school that places parents under stress in and out of difficult times, every fee is charged for a purpose , overt or covert and oftentimes intended to fill a vacuum left by Anambra State government in funding."
"Any policy that claims to have eliminated these payments must, as a basic minimum, clarify how those headings will be funded and what stands the government in better stead than before now to guarantee sustained funding on these activities, for the sake of standards."
"In our peculiar circumstance, where government manages to strangulate local governments,it is needless to stress that the financial projections backing the withdrawal of 'schools subsidies' should be based on the state government funds, and not local government funds,except in partnerships approved by various elected local government legislatures."
"Outside this,we might be heading back to those things that erase people's trust in government by creating a huge gap between talk and action."
"The clarification sought from the government now has to include in clear terms whether Soludo's referenced pronouncement meant that there will be no school fees in these schools or that after school fees,there should be no additional charges."
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