About 200 primary school headteachers in four local government areas of Anambra may be demoted for selling workbook to pupils in their respective schools in the state.
Chief Nzemeka Olisah, Executive Chairman of Anambra State Universal Basic Education Board (ASUDEB) who spoke to journalists in Awka said those affected were headteachers in Idemili North, Idemili South, Nnewi South and Njikoka Local Government Areas.
Olisah said the headteachers who were still being investigated were reported by concerned parents for forcing them to pay for workbooks after it had been suspended by the state ministry of education and the board in 2017.
He said the headteachers were collecting as much as N2, 200 per child, noting that the affected people must pay the amount collected into their school accounts for subsequent refund to parents.
The ASUBEB chairman said Anambra was running a free education system, adding that the actions of the headteachers amounted to serious breach of the principles of Universal Basic Education(UBE).
“It is necessary to observe that some Local Government Education Areas and headteachers flouted the government directive under various reasons in the last academic year, this is a total flagrant disobedience to government directive and will be addressed in line Public Service Rule (2000 Ed).
“They must pay back all monies collected into their school accounts, failure of which all the affected teachers will be demoted back in to the classrooms and ASUBEB will physically supervise the refund of the money to parents through the PTA.
“We have over 1, 000 primary schools in the state and the bad eggs, about 200 of them, we can not allow them to rubbish the efforts of government.
“We are a free education state and making parents to pay as much as N2, 200 per child in the name of workbook just because of N10 they will get from each book rubbishes the ideals of free education programme.
“Sale of workbook has been suspended since September 2017 and we are still investigating more cases of abuse of the order by our staff,” he said.
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