Akwa Ibom warns parents, plans to ‘intercept’ loitering students

The Akwa Ibom State Government says it’s going to deploy a particular monitoring activity power to sort out truancy, road hawking by school-age kids throughout college hours, and kids not enrolled in class.

The state’s Commissioner for Education, Ubong Umoh, introduced the measure in a statement dated 14 October, saying the ministry had noticed kids of fundamental and pre-tertiary college ages roaming the streets and hawking throughout college hours regardless of the state’s free and obligatory schooling coverage.

Under the proposed enforcement measure, the duty power will intercept pupils who arrive late to college or depart class throughout college hours. It may even confront mother and father and guardians who fail to enrol their kids or wards in class, in accordance to the assertion.

The ministry recognized college hours as 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays.

Mr Umoh mentioned the measure was meant to hold kids in lecture rooms, enhance their security, curb truancy and classroom distractions, and stop youngster abuse.

He mentioned the initiative would additionally assist the implementation of the state’s free and obligatory schooling coverage.

The commissioner, nonetheless, didn’t specify when the duty power would start operations, how it could be constituted, or the penalties that may apply to mother and father and guardians who fail to adjust to the directive.

The directive follows the state’s poor efficiency within the 2026 National Examinations Council Senior School Certificate Examination.

PREMIUM TIMES reported in September that Akwa Ibom ranked thirty sixth among the many 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, with solely 37.42 per cent of candidates acquiring not less than 5 credit, together with in English Language and Mathematics. The efficiency represented a serious decline from the state’s Twelfth-place rating in 2025.

The state authorities later disputed the newspaper’s report, claiming outcomes from 83 of 214 public-school examination centres had not been launched. However, it had not but offered the official knowledge it mentioned supported its place.

On 7 October, Governor Umo Eno declared a state of emergency within the schooling sector and accredited recruiting an extra 2,000 academics.

The new directive on college attendance provides enforcement in opposition to truancy and non-enrolment to the challenges dealing with the state’s schooling authorities.