The Abia State Government has announced a ban on graduation ceremonies for nursery schools, permitting such ceremonies only for pupils completing Primary 6 and Senior Secondary 3 (SS3). This directive applies to both public and private schools across the state and aims to alleviate the financial strain on parents.
The announcement was made by the Commissioner for Information, Okey Kanu, following the state's Executive Council meeting chaired by Governor Alex Otti. The decision resulted from consultations with education stakeholders within the state.
Goodluck Ubochi, the Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, emphasized that younger pupils in nursery and lower classes should not hold graduation ceremonies that compel parents to incur heavy expenses. Additionally, the government introduced the separation of textbooks from workbooks to enable siblings to reuse textbooks while maintaining unique workbooks for each child.
Schools have also been instructed to ensure parents collect their children’s basic education certificates. To address past issues of uncollected certificates, a fee cap of N2,000 has been set for issuing Primary 6 certificates. Furthermore, students enrolling for WAEC, NECO, or JAMB exams must present their basic education certificates, and enrollment into SS3 requires passing a mandatory state-organized promotion exam at SS2.