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News reports have revealed that primary school pupils have been leaving school after eating free food being offered by the state government.
The Kaduna State Government made the revelation yesterday, March 14, while expressing concern over the desertion of schools after the free meals have been served.
The reports reveal that the students allegedly leave school under the guise of trying to get water as soon as they are done eating.
The state’s Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Dr. Shehu Adamu, while speaking to newsmen in Kaduna, appealed to parents to help ensure that the children stay back in school after their free meal, to avoid jeopardizing the programme.
Dr Adamu added that the programme had initially been introduced as a form of encouragement to help enhance school enrolment, attendance and retention.
“The main goal of the school feeding programme is to attract out-of-school children to school and keep them in class for them to acquire education and better their lives. We will not allow a situation where children will just come to school and leave the moment they finish eating their meals; if it is about water, we have asked parents to provide water for their children. Therefore, parents have a responsibility of ensuring that the children do not only come to school on time, but remain in school till closing hours.”
Mean while, some other states have incorporated ‘school police’ programs aimed at curtailing truancy in schools from the Primary level to Secondary.
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