IMSU Students Appeal To Imo Govt Not To Scrap Free Education

Students in state-owned tertiary institution in Imo state have made a passionate appeal to the Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha, not to end the ongoing free education in the state. According to them, it has gone a long way in alleviating the sufferings of indigent families who could not afford to pay tuition for their children in school. The students made this appeal at the Imo Trade and Investment Centre in Owerri, the state capital, during the re-validation and identification exercise organized by the state government, to ascertain the number of Imo indigenes benefiting from the state free education policy as well as ensures that the beneficiaries are of Imo extraction.

Since the inception of the Okorocha-led administration in 2011, education from primary to secondary has been made free for students in state owned schools. In 2013, the state government also extended the free education to state owned tertiary institutions and testimonies from beneficiaries have highlighted its importance.

However, few weeks ago, the state government directed students in all the state owned tertiary institutions to obtain a form aimed at re-validating and identifying all the students enjoying the free education. The students who are mainly from Imo State University, Imo State Polytechnic, Imo State College of Education, and the Imo State School of Nursing, have appealed to the government not to put an end to the free education policy, maintaining that the importance of the free education to families cannot be overemphasized.