Governor of Bayelsa State, Douye Diri has inaugurated six newly created secondary schools in the state capital, Yenagoa.
The schools are located in Biogbolo, Yenezue-Epie, Ovom, Ekeki, Akenfa and Igbogene communities and have a combined population of 4,628 students.
Speaking during the joint inauguration at the Government Secondary School, Biogbolo, Gov. Diri, said his administration was bequeathing legacy projects that would speak for him at the end of his tenure.
He explained that on assumption of office, he realised there was a deficit in school infrastructure, and he decided to approve the construction of schools across the state capital.
The governor said his decision was not misplaced, as the schools have provided access to education for children who would have been deprived education due to lack of schools.
Building human capacity in the state, Gov. Diri said is a top priority of his government and it would continue to embark on programmes to train children at their impressionable ages in order to inculcate the right attitudes and skills in them.
The governor advised the students to make good use of the facilities, saying that most of his peers were not lucky to attend schools in conducive environments but have become leaders in various professions.
His words: “For us, it is an opportunity to serve and we believe at the end of the day, these will speak for us. The schools we have built, the children we have trained, the empowerment of the youths and women are the things that will speak for us.
“The roads and infrastructure, the stadium for the sports-loving people of Bayelsa State, the new secretariat complex that will make the environment very conducive for the workers and the gas turbines to generate electricity are the things that will speak for us.
“These children are the future of Bayelsa. So, this is the time to tap into them, and bring them up with the necessary skills and values that they will be useful not only to themselves but to our state and Nigeria.
“When I got the statistics from Bishop Dimeari Grammar School, Ovom, and the St. Jude’s Girls Secondary School, Amarata, I knew we had a problem because the student-teacher ratio was under threat.
“It was not anything close to the prescription of the United Nations. I then promptly, approved that new schools be established across the length and breadth of the state capital.
“Today, we are inaugurating six of such schools. We had built one at Ogbogoro and another at Swali. So, we have built eight new schools in Yenagoa.”
The governor gave a breakdown of the student population in the new schools, saying the school in Biogbolo accommodates 1,000 students, Community Secondary School, Igbogene 361, College of Education Demonstration Secondary School, Ekeki 450, Government Secondary School, Ovom 883, Community Secondary School, Akenfa 1,237, while Government Secondary School, Yenezue-Epie had 679 students.
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He added that to improve education, he approved N16 billion for renovation of schools and also signed into law increase in the retirement age of teachers from 60 to 65 years.
“In line with the policy of the federal government, I signed into law an increase in the retirement age of our teachers from 60 years to 65 years.
“Soz the older teachers will be able to impact on the new ones that we are recruiting not only in teaching methodology but also in the relationship and values and ethics of teaching,” the governor said.
Commissioner for Education, Dr. Gentle Emelah, said the administration had changed the education narrative of the state, by creating an enabling environment for learning for children.
Dr. Emelah stated that the inauguration of the schools had expanded access to education beyond the two prominent schools in Yenagoa, Bishop Dimeari Grammar School and St. Jude’s Girls Secondary School, respectively.