The Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education in Delta, Prof. Patrick Muoboghare, has threatened to prosecute parents who allow their children roam the streets during school hours.
The commissioner issued the threat in Asaba on Tuesday while presenting the mid-term report of his ministry.
He said that the government had decided to make primary and secondary school education free and compulsory for all children of school age in the state.
He warned that any parent, who allowed his or her child to roam the street during school hours from September would be prosecuted.
“Education is compulsory and no child in the state will be allowed to be stranded,” he said.
To realise this objective, Muoboghare said the ministry had established a special marshall to monitor and arrest any child found roaming the street during school hours.
He advised parents and stakeholders to support the government to realise its dream to educate children.
The commissioner said the government had since the 2008/2009 academic session, spent more than N3.7 billion on the payment of Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination fees forstudents in the state.
He said that the gesture had helped to improve the performance of candidates over the period.
The commissioner assured parents that the handover of 41 secondary schools to missionaries in the state would not hamper the chances of their children and wards to get quality education.
Muoboghare said that government had taken steps to bridge the infrastructure gap in all primary and secondary schools across the state.
“Government returned 41 secondary schools to their original owners and paid five million naira to each of the schools as take-off grant.
“The gesture is to ginger the spirit of healthy competition among children of school age in both public and private schools.
“So far, the government through the ministry and the Directorate of Infrastructure, has spent over N22.6 billion for the infrastructure development in 142 primary and 34 secondary schools across the state,’’ Muoboghare said.