By Ogonna Ezebebe |Ichie Times

The Anambra State Government has ruled out plans to reclaim mission-returned schools, while announcing plans to enforce minimum operating standards across public and private primary schools in the state.

The decision was taken at Monday’s meeting of the Anambra State Executive Council (ANSEC) held at the Light House, Awka.

In a statement issued yesterday, the Commissioner for Information and Value Reformation, Dr Law Mefor, said the government had no intention of taking back schools voluntarily returned to religious missions.

The clarification followed reports suggesting that the state government was planning to reclaim the schools.

However, Mefor said the council expressed concern over the poor standards of operation in some mission-returned primary schools, stressing the need to ensure quality education across the state.

According to him, the council resolved to establish minimum operating standards for all public and private primary schools, warning that institutions that fail to meet the prescribed requirements would be shut down.

The government also disclosed that several primary schools across the state were undergoing renovation under a counterpart-funding arrangement between the Anambra State Government and the Federal Government.

Providing details of the government’s investment in the education sector, Mefor said the state had recruited 8,115 teachers for public primary and secondary schools.

He added that 3,500 of the recruited teachers had been deployed to mission-returned schools, with the state government continuing to pay their salaries and other entitlements.

The government said the measures were aimed at improving educational standards and ensuring that schools operating in Anambra provide quality learning environments for pupils.