The Executive Chairman of the Cross River Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Stephen Odey, on Tuesday, charged Education Secretaries in the 18 Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs) of the state, to always demonstrate leadership capacity in the discharge of their functions.
He gave the charge at a meeting with the secretaries on Tuesday in Calabar.
Odey described them as the “eye of the board” at the local government level, adding that they played critical roles in the management of the basic education system.
“We cannot achieve success in the basic education sector without your support and cooperation; if you fail in your responsibility then the board has failed.
“I, therefore, urge you to take full responsibility for whatever happens at the LGEA level, because at that level you are in charge.
“You need to dedicate yourselves to this job and show full commitment at all times,” he said.
The executive chairman further condemned the appointment of headteachers and redeployment of teachers from schools to LGEAs without the approval of the board.
He called for a strong synergy between the board and local government education authorities.
“The buck stops at SUBEB: all transfers and redeployment must be approved by the board.
“We cannot have our classrooms empty, while our teachers are being moved to offices,” Odey said.
According to him, one of the challenges in the education system is overcrowding in public schools in the urban areas while schools in the rural areas suffer a lack of teachers.
Odey, who urged executive secretaries to correct such anomalies, warned against the delayed reports of death cases of teachers to the board, saying that such cases should be promptly reported so as to expunge their names from the payroll.
