Regina Otokpa The Governor of Taraba State, Agbu Kefas, has frowned upon rising number of out-ofschool children in the state, which he attributed to poverty, describing the menace as unacceptable. Kefas disclosed this during his working visit to the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) in Abuja, where he noted that the development which is unaccepted, prompted the state government to declare free and compulsory primary and secondary education in the state in a bid to ensure no child was left behind. Under the new education policy to boost the development of the sector, create unfettered access to higher education and improve school enrolment, the governor stated that students in all the stateowned tertiary institutions would now pay half of their tuition fees. While saying that such action had become imperative to address this challenge, he lamented that this has forced many students to drop out of the institutions due to the inability of their parents and guardians to pay their school fees at various levels.
This, he, however, noted has prompted many of the youths in the state to become drug addicts, criminals and nuisance to the society. Stating his major reason for his visit to the agency, the governor solicited for the support of the Fund to establish an e-library, entrepreneurship training centres in higher institutions and Computer-BasedTest (CBT) centres in the state. He said: “I am here to solicit for the establishment of entrepreneurship centres in Taraba State to be able to train our youths to be self-employed; and to also ask for Computer-Based Test centres so as to be able to accommodate more of our students sitting for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) and other computer based examinations in the state, and lastly to request for the establishment of e-library in Taraba State.
“In my agenda, the priority is education, and if you look at our region educationally, there are major problems. We have huge human resources that are untapped and I have discovered that one of the main reasons for insecurity is lack of education. “They said in Taraba State we have one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children, so if at the primary and secondary school levels, we don’t harvest these children, we cannot even invest in the higher institutions and you will discover too that your own job will be affected and that is why I declared free and compulsory primary and secondary school education in the state. “By the grace of God, when I am done with the plans I have on ground, I would like you to come and see what we are doing there.
