Determined to enforce to the letter the free education policy of Governor Chukwuma Soludo, the Chairman, Post Primary Schools Service Commission (PPSSC), Professor Nkechi Ikediugwu, has directed the principals of Community Secondary School, Awkuzu, Mrs Cecilia Okeke, and Community Secondary School, Igbakwu, Mrs Patricia Ezeabiakwa, to step aside from their positions.
She gave the directive during unannounced visits to the schools, where she discovered that the principal of Community Secondary School, Awkuzu, alongside some teachers, was collecting amounts ranging from ten thousand naira to forty thousand naira from newly admitted students, contrary to the free education policy of the Soludo administration, while similar infractions were also recorded at Community Secondary School, Igbakwu, where the principal and teachers were extorting money from students under various guises.
Professor Ikediugwu asked the two principals to step aside from their positions, hand over to their vice principals (administration) with immediate effect, personally refund every kobo collected from the students within seven days, and submit proof of refund to the headquarters of PPSSC, Awka, while the teachers involved were summoned to appear at the PPSSC headquarters on Monday, 15 December, to collect letters of query and await further disciplinary action, which may include suspension.
The PPSSC Chairman stressed that Governor Soludo has made education free from nursery to secondary school and that any principal or teacher who is still collecting one naira from students is a saboteur who will be treated as such, adding that repeated warnings against such acts have continued to be flouted by some individuals.
She revealed that the PPSSC has set up a dedicated monitoring team that will continue surprise visits to schools across the state beginning next term.
As at the time of filing this report, the two suspended principals could not be reached for comments, as they were said to have gone into hiding.
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