The All Progressives Congress (APC) has described as “expensive political gimmick” the decision of the Edo State government to suspend indefinitely the resumption of schools in the state over the hike in fuel price.
The Permanent Secretary in the state Ministry of Education, Ojo Akin-Longe, had in a memo announced the postponement of school resumption till further notice.
The schools were initially slated to resume on September 9.
The APC Publicity Secretary in the state, Mr. Peter Uwadiae-Enosorogbe, told journalists he was surprised that the state government could be sacrificing the educational pursuit of the children for politics.
He said: “You cannot sacrifice the education pursuit of the children for fuel scarcity. It is not today we are having a hike in fuel price. This cannot derail the educational system.
“Nobody is protesting the hike and no parents have complained that they cannot take their children to school for learning. This is not adding up.
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“To every reasonable and rational individual, the government has erred again. It is one of the mistakes of the state government.
“It is not in the interest of the children; it is not in the interest of the parents and it is not in the interest of the educational system.”
Uwadiae-Enosorogbe called for the reversal of the decision, saying the state education had suffered a lot under this administration.
According to him, statistics of performance for the recently released results of the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) ranked Edo 26th as against 1st and 2nd positions in the past.
“If you now postpone resumption, how are you going to mitigate the time you have made them to stay at home deliberately. Meanwhile, the parents are not complaining,” the spokesman added.
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