Asaba – The Delta House of Assembly Committee on Finance and Appropriation, has urged the state government to focus more the rural communities in the implementation of its Education Marshal Programme.
The Chairman of the Committee, Mr Daniel Mayuku, made the call during a budget defence with the office of the Secretary to the State Government in Asaba.
Mayuku, who commended the initiative of the state government in implementing the programme, noted that it would impact more on the people in the rural areas, especially those in the riverine communities.
He said that the programme was laudable and there was still a need to pay more attention to the grassroots.
“The people in the riverine communities desire to get education, but the teachers are not willing to work in such areas because of the difficult terrain of the area.
“And another way through which we can encourage these people to go to school is by taking the education marshal programme to them,’’ he said.
Earlier, the state coordinator of the Education Marshal Programme, Mrs Stella Blaze, noted that funding had been a challenge militating against the implementation of the programme.
She said that the programme was initiated in September 2013 and it received N103 million to kick-start the programme.
Blaze appealed to the committee to appropriate adequate funds for the implementation of the programme across the state.
She said that the essence of the programme was to encourage and remove children from the streets and send them back to school.