From Lateef Taiwo
Governor Umo Eno of Akwa Ibom state has underscored the importance of education as the essential life blood and the necessary driving force for safeguarding the future of pupils in basically schools, explaining that enforcement of such ideals remains his administration’s commitment to the free and compulsory education policy in the state.
Pastor Eno, who stated this while addressing a gathering of top brass in the Nigerian Navy, led by the Chief of Naval Staff, CNS, Vice Admiral Emmanuel Ogalla, at the graduation and passing out ceremonies of the first batch of graduating students, Nigerian Navy Military School, Ikot Ntuen, in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state, noted that only a functional education could guarantee productive future of a growing child.
The Governor acknowledged that the School was established to groom young, and able – bodied boys with the right mix of academic excellence, values and discipline, maintained that the Navy Military School, in just six years of existence, has grown in leaps and bounds to become the most sought after Navy Secondary School in the country, and ascribed the feat to “quality of personnel, ambience of the institution, academic performance and the drills which he described as spectacular.”
Towards attaining the maximum standard of teaching and learning, Eno assured of his administration’s readiness to assist in the provision of educational facilities including laboratory equipment and, therefore, made a case for the extension of military training to the public schools system, to insulate the pupils from societal malaise including cultism.
He said: “introduction of some elements of military training in the state conventional schools will instill discipline in the students.
As you all know, education is not preparation for life, but life itself, which is the reason why education advancement is a critical pillar of our ‘Arise Agenda’.
“We are determined to provide conducive learning environments, align the curriculum with the realities of the ICT, Sciences, Mathematics, Arts and produce future graduates that will compete with their pears elsewhere in the country.
“We will establish model primary schools across the three Senatorial Districts and later, 10 Federal constituencies. The model of the school will soon be opened at the Christ The king Primary School at Wellington Bassey Way, close to Government House because charity must begin at home.”
