Abia State Government is partnering with Government College, Umuahia, to revolutionise education in the state to meet the dictates of the 21st Century and align with global competitiveness.

The state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Goodluck Ubochi, made this known while presenting an address during the Government College Umuahia (GCU) Education Innovation Conference 2026, organised by the Government College Umuahia Old Boys Association (GCUOBA), UK and Europe chapters.

The conference was held in conjunction with the Abia State Government, Signature Bank, Academia Football Global UK, and Redshift Education UK.

Ubochi noted that for too long, education in Abia has operated in silos, as academics were divorced from life skills and theory outweighed practice.

He said as a result of this, schools in the state produced graduates strong in memorisation but often vulnerable to the demands of a dynamic world.

The Commissioner regretted that education in the state, in the past, suffered from underfunding and infrastructural decay, adding that it was for this reason that Governor Alex Otti declared a state of emergency in education to bridge the gap.

Disclosing what the state government is doing to improve the quality of education in the state, Ubochi said 5,394 teachers have been employed, with plans to employ an additional 4,000, which will bring the number to nearly 10,000.

‘’To our partners, the Old Boys Association of Government College, Umuahia, your foresight in championing this event is commendable.

“We are moving from an era of neglect to an era of intentional, data-driven and holistic investment in education.”

Deputy Speaker, Abia State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Augustine Mmeregini commended the organisers for coming up with a conference that blends classroom theory with practical work.

An Old Boy himself, Mmeregini said the partnership between the Abia Government and the school to take education to a global level was a decision in the right direction.

Mr Chukwudi Onwudinanti, an Old Boy of the school who coordinated the online version of the conference from the United Kingdom, highlighted the need to shift education from basically theory to practicals.

Onwudinanti, enumerating the aims of the conference, in summary, said it was meant to give education a global foothold and make products of schools have a high employability rate.