By; VITALIS UGOH, Calabat
Cross River state governor, Senator Ben Ayade, has expressed joy and delight over the progress of quality work at British/Canadian International school in Obudu Local Government Area of the state.
The governor who spoke at Kakum, site of the school, shortly after inspecting the level of work, maintained that the idea of modelling a school of such standard emanated from the challenges of quality education in the state.
According to him, ” I am impressed with the quality of work and not too happy with the speed. The idea for establishing this school arose from the challenges of quality education. I do know that painting classrooms does not change the quality of education neither does it improve the quality and learning, hence my zeal to make a difference”.
Said he, “we keep saying that the standard of education is falling. How do we change it? Not by building more classes but if I take one classroom, let me do it properly so that when you are in United Kingdom and you come home,. you will say, wow, is this Nigeria”?
The governor who said that he had earlier taken a tour of the best schools in Canada and Britain, as well as spent two weeks in the United Kingdom to participate in the design of the project, argued that “there is no way a child will grow and study under this condition that he will not be responsible”.
Giving insight on the features of the school, Ayade said “it has an administrative block, refectory, 24/7 internet connectivity in the library, better laboratory furniture than those found in Nigerian universities. So, this is like a mini university built for a junior secondary school”.
He affirmed further “I don’t expect any quality of teaching better than what we have here and I don’t expect any junior secondary school to have the standard and quality of what I am building here because as a professor, it is my responsibility to make a difference”.
Ayade further explained that “because of the sophistication of this institution, this will be one major school to beat in the entire state and it will produce future technocrats, the ICT wizards and all the computer engineers will be trained here”.
On whether the school will be affordable, the governor said, “if you are an indigene of Cross River, once you pass your entrance into this school, your tuition is fully prepared, so the child of the poorest man who is brilliant can come to this school but the entrance examination will be thorough. Once you attend a primary school, you write the entrance examination to the school and this will be done across Africa”.
Earlier, the project manager of the construction company, Phil-El Okoye, assured that the company will not compromise the approved standard of the school, adding that “there exists cordial relationship between the workers and the community”.
