Enugu unfolds plans to upgrade education sector

THIRTY-FOUR secondary schools in Enugu State are to be upgraded to boarding status this year, as part of the state governments initiatives to improve the education sector. Already, N68.9 million has been set aside for the project in this years budget, with another provision of N100 million for the renovation of dilapidated secondary school buildings across the state.       According to the details of projects listed for execution in the education sector in this years budget presented by the states Commissioner for Finance and Economic Planning, Mrs. Vivienne Eze, construction of new schools would gulp N141 million, construction of toilet and urinary buildings in secondary schools, N11 million, while purchase of science equipment will cost N70 million. For the primary schools, she said that five blocks of 5-classrooms each in the 17 local councils have been earmarked for renovation, at the sum of N208.2 million, while one 4-classroom blocks would be constructed in five primary schools. The commissioner further revealed governments plan to construct 90 four-apartment blocks of good toilets, at the cost of N45 million.      Besides, Eze announced various other projects earmarked for execution at the Junior Secondary School (JSS) level to include: construction of 18 blocks of four classrooms for newly established schools, renovation of 44 blocks of five classrooms (N107 million), provision of classroom and office furniture (N27 million), provision of instructional materials (N4.2 million) and provision of intro-tech equipment for 62 schools (N9.3million). On the Special School for the Blind, she said that N23.5 million has been set aside for the procurement of training equipment, in addition to the N2.2 million approved for the purchase of instructional materials for the school. Continuing, the commissioner said that 83 science laboratories would be renovated by the Post-Primary School Management Board (PPSMB), in addition to the renovation of 120 classroom blocks. She added that N100 million has been set aside for procurement and supply of science equipment to the secondary schools. She further announced the state governments plan to equip 10 secondary schools in each of the six Education zones in the state with electronic library equipment, at a cost of N200 million, just as five library blocks would be constructed in each of the zones. On scholarship, the Finance Commissioner said that the government plans to offer 300 scholarships to indigent and deserving scholars, in addition to 680 others to be awarded at the local government level.
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