Principals and vice principals in public schools in Kwara state are now jittery following a decision by the state's Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to tie their promotion to the success of their pupils in public examinations.

Commissioner in charge of the ministry, Mallam Raji Mohammed, who reiterated the commitment of his ministry to the policy, said "it was only normal that the school heads should be held accountable for their students' academic performance." 
Besides, the state government, he stressed has concluded arrangements to make teaching more attractive, adding that one of such moves is the offer of scholarship to would-be teachers at the university level, which according to Mohammed, "will make them come back and impart what they have acquired on students".
The performance criteria, the Commissioner noted will soon be released, even as he added that the ministry was poised to reward the best performing teachers and principals this school year.
But, some school heads have expressed concern that the policy may hit back at them given the current rate of performance among pupils in their cares. 

Towards this end, many of them have instituted measures to ensure that they are not caught in the web of the new policy, which they described as an extension of the one introduced by the former Commissioner in the ministry, who is the current Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdulahi, who put the teachers to task during his tenure.
While addressing reporters in Ilorin, the state capital, Mohamed, however, hinted that Vice Principals in charge of academic programmes in schools would henceforth be reprimanded or rewarded for their pupils' dismal or brilliant performance. 
The heat on the school heads is also being said to be necessary to justify the recent initiatives by the state government in the education sector, one of which is the abolition of any form of fees in public schools as part of palliatives to cushion the effect of the hike in fuel price, brought about by the removal of oil subsidy by the Federal Government.

His words: "The criteria for assessing the teachers and principals will be out soon. We want to strengthen the internal mechanism of secondary schools in the state. The principals of schools have been empowered to see themselves as the general-managers in charge of all the resources allocated to them by government. The Vice-Principal is now equally being seen as responsible to students' performance.
"The question is that what is the rate of the students' performance put under the Vice-Principal's care? The Vice-Principal will either be rewarded or reprimanded depending on pupils' performance. We also want to ensure that teachers are regularly trained and retrained especially on the core subjects."

Mohammed added: "The N970 being paid by each pupils is now being underwritten by the government, which will in turn pay the money to the schools according to their student's population. Principals of these schools are now charged with the responsibility of managing the funds. The school-based management committee, the ministry and auditors are to monitor the usage of the funds."
In another development, the Commissioner has said the state government would soon rehabilitate three out of the five moribund technical schools in the state in order to boost entrepreneurial education aimed at making their products self-reliant.
While promising to vigorously pursue the state's charter of "every child counts" in the overall interest of people, Mohammed noted that the state would spend about N35 million on the procurement of exercise books to be distributed free to pupils in its schools. 
Thus, he explained that the government's free education policy is geared towards relieving parents of their burden, noting that the government holds the electorate in high esteem.
The commissioner, who disclosed that every pupil in senior secondary schools in the state would receive five notebooks of 80 leaves, added that Governor AbdulFatah Ahmed-led administration would continue to strengthen its policy towards the provision of quality education.