The Kwara Government is committed to ensuring availability of skilled manpower through the provision of quality education, the Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Mallam Raji Mohammed, has said.

Mohammed, who was reacting to the incessant increase in school fees by private school operators in the state, spoke to newsmen on Monday in Ilorin.

He said that the state's education reform programme would ensure that children access free and quality education.

Government, he added, had already strengthened its public education system through the introduction of the Quality Assurance Bureau (QAB).

He also said that since the state government had no authority to fix fees in private schools, its role was to ensure that public schools provided quality education to meet the yearnings of the people.

Mohammed noted that the "Every Child Counts" policy of the previous administration was still in place among other programmes put in place to ensure that pupils accessed quality education.

"Colleges of Education in the state have been repositioned to accommodate the purpose for which they were established, including the production of quality teachers for primary schools in the state," he added.

He urged parents to patronise public schools, saying they were better and have more qualified teachers as well as better teaching aids.

The commissioner gave assurance of the continued commitment and support of the government to make child education in the state a top priority. (NAN)