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In a bid to make their voices heard, the members of Ihie Ndume community in Umuahia East constituency, on Tuesday, stormed the Abia State House of Assembly Umuahia to demand a drastic slash in school fees at Government College, GCU, Umuahia.
Southeastposts gathered that the protesters who arrived at the Assembly earlier before plenary session, cried out that they can not afford the outrageous school fees set by management team of GCU.
The protesters led by Nathaniel Nwoko, the President of Abia State chapter of Common Man Assembly, alleged that the present administrators of the school have converted the public school to a private institution, hence denying intelligent children from poor homes the opportunity to access quality education.
Southeastposts reports that the community members demanded that the school fees be slashed to enable the children of the poor enroll and also begged Governor Alex Otti to ensure that Abia State government becomes part of the management team.
The protesters also called for Government College Umuahia to remain a public school where intelligent children can attend, irrespective of their parent’s societal status.
Addressing the protesters, the Chairman of Abia State House of Assembly Committee on education, Okoro Uchenna Kalu , said the matter is receiving the needed attention on his table.
He added that Governor Alex Otti is interested in the issue and promised that the House will be diligent on the issue by recommending the right thing.
On his part, the Deputy Speaker Augustine Okezie who represents the Umuahia East constituency where the protesters came from, urged his constituents to return peacefully as the House would ensure that the right thing is done.
Southeastposts learnt that an indigene of Ubani -Emede Ibeku, Chukwudi Onwudinanti recently petitioned the Abia State House of Assembly alleging that Fisher Education Development Trust, FEDT who manages Government College Umuahia jacked up the school fees to over N1 million Naira annually and converted the school to a private institution, among other claims.
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