Students across Kwara State public schools are to get free notebooks as part of government’s efforts to deepen access to quality education and ease the burden on the parents, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq has said.

Speaking with the state chapter of the Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) late Wednesday, AbdulRazaq said the sums of N70m was released to the Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development to produce the notebooks and make them available to students in public schools for free.

The step effectively ends years of complaints of lack of writing materials by indigent students.It came a day after the education ministry conducted open bids for renovation of 31 public schools across Kwara State.

“I went to some schools where the students have no reading materials. That is why we set aside about N70million to make sure that books get to the students and they will soon start distributing them,” AbdulRazaq said.

Responding to appeals by the NUT for the governor to look into issues affecting them, AbdulRazaq promised to look holistically into the welfare of the civil servants including teachers who he said are key to the future of the children.

Toyin Salihu, the NUT Chairman in Kwara State, commended the Governor for his unique leadership of the state which he said has resulted in prompt and full payment of workers’ salary since he assumed office.

He then pledged their support for the government to realise its policy objectives in the education sector.