Unity Schools: Minister warns staff unions, PTAs against meddlesomeness

STAFF unions and the parent-teacher associations in Unity Colleges across the federation have been warned to operate within the law and avoid undue interference with the management of the colleges.

The Minister of State for Education, Professor Anthony Anwukah, gave the warning while inspecting some projects completed by the African Development Bank (ADB), including students’ hostels and ultramodern Business Development Centre (BDC).

He noted with satisfaction that the centre now provides opportunity for students to engage in several skills acquisition activities, including production of household items such as paint, liquid soap, bleach, air freshener, petroleum jelly and balms, among others.

Some of these products are being used in the college and some sold to the general public, a statement by Agidike Onu, on behalf of the Director Press, Federal Ministry of Education, said on Tuesday in Abuja.

Professor Anwukah acknowledged the positive contributions of the PTAs in the development of the colleges, but reminded them that the Federal Government owns the Unity Colleges.

He emphasised that the Federal Ministry of Education supervises while principals are the chief accounting officers.

“It is the mandate of the principals to take charge of their colleges,” he stressed, adding that they are not subject to PTAs’ directive.

The minister also noted that some of the colleges are overstaffed, while many of the staff have overstayed in their colleges, constituting themselves as ‘landlords, institutions and ungovernable’ in their own perspective.

He advised the staff unions on the other hand to work with the principals to ensure success and attainment of the goals for which the colleges are established, reminding them that they are primarily employed as teachers.

He acknowledged that ADB interventions were already yielding good results, citing the impressive performances by students of the FSTC Orozo in the 2015 external examinations, namely the Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination, National Examinations Council (NECO) and BECE, in which the students recorded 64.7 per cent, 96.7 per cent and 99.9 per cent passes respectively.

The minister charged the traditional council of Orozo community and the School Based Management Committee (SBMC) to protect the college’s land which is being encroached upon, even as he promised to take up the issue with the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory in due course.

Earlier, the Director/Principal of FSTC Orozo, Obiageli Ihekwaba, stated that the ‘Sit Down and Read’ programme introduced in the college on her assumption of duty in 2014 contributed to successes recorded in students’ performances in the 2015 examinations, which she described as unprecedented.

She said that students were being rewarded with scholarships and free textbooks for excelling in the ‘Sit Down and Read’ programme.