BY PETER OKUTU
ABAKALIKI— EBONYI State Government, Thursday, announced the closure of 328 illegal and substandard schools operating across the 13 local government areas of the state.

Commissioner for Information and State Orientation, Mr. Chike Onwe, who disclosed this while briefing newsmen on the outcome of the State Executive Council meeting yesterday, emphasised that the measure was by no means meant to discourage private sector participation in developing the educational sector, but a way of instillig order in the system.

He said: “In line with the state government’s resolve to ensure quality education of Ebonyi children, Council has approved the recommendations of the Committee on identification of illegal and substandard educational institutions in the state.

“That the Commissioner for Education should proceed immediately to close down the very bad schools, including 28 nursery and primary schools and 25 secondary schools across the state. He should close down unapproved schools numbering 275 (177 nursery and primary and 98 secondary schools).

“That the Commissioner for Education should give a six-month ultimatum to some bad schools considered to have a capacity for improvement to either formalize their existence or improve on the services they provide or risk closure at the expiration of the deadline.

“They include: 92 nursery schools and 52 secondary schools. Sequel to this, students in the affected schools and their parents are advised to look for alternative places for enrolment.”

Onwe noted that the state government had issued a 10-day ultimatum to contractors handling the fencing of the 27 pilots’ schools in the state for them to get back to site or have their contracts revoked.

According to him, council has approved the renovation of  13 general hospitals in the state, one in each of the local government areas.

He added that the target of the exercise was to make the hospitals functional and create a conducive environment for health care delivery.