Edo Govt visits Idogbo secondary school, assesses level of destruction

A delegation of the Edo State Government led by the Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, on Wednesday, visited Idogbo Secondary School in Ikpoba-Okha Local Government Area of the state to assess the level of damage on the school, which facilities were recently destroyed by some hoodlums in the area.

Speaking shortly after inspecting the school facilities, Commissioner for Education, Dr. Joan Osa-Oviawe, described the event as “disturbing.”

According to her, "This is a very disturbing occurrence in this school. We are taking a very specific step to address this problem once and for all, so as to make sure it doesn't happen in other parts of the state."

"We are going to review our policies on admission for us to decongest our schools. The population of this school is high, so it's important that we address this issue before this school is reopened."

"His Excellency has approved the recruitment of teachers under the Edo STAR fellowship programme so that we can fill in gaps that already exist in our senior schools. Damage has been done and there are still some other additional things that we need to do to ensure that we provide a conducive environment for learning for this school and similar schools.”

The Commissioner continued, "We want to create an enabling environment for all our students, not just infrastructure but also to provide psychosocial services for schools like this. We are going to make sure that there are guidance counselors and there are careers counselors."

"We are going to meet with all the communities where some of these students come from and meet with the parents and collectively come up with a solution that will help bring back discipline and accountability into our school.”

"Government has zero-tolerance for this kind of unruly behavior. It is not acceptable as there was no reason for this. We are not going to stand for this kind of behavior; the parents and the students are going to be held accountable for this,” she reassured.

Earlier, the principal of Idogbo Secondary School, Mr. Sunday Osaretin, while giving the account of what transpired, said that some students and unknown hoodlums numbering 49, invaded the school premises hauling dangerous objects at students and teachers.

Osaretin said that it took the efforts of the police personnel and vigilante to put the situation under control.