He added that the State’s Child’s Right law provides that all children must be given access to education.
The Ekiti State government had last week commenced school enrolment drive aimed at ensuring that all school-age children register for the forthcoming 2019/2020 academic session.
Dr Fayemi who stated this in Eporo, Emure-Ekiti during the sensitisation programme called on all parents and guardians to key into the free education programme of his administration, saying, ” education is not only free but compulsory in Ekiti State.”
He added that it is an abuse of Child’s Right for any parent or guardian to deny school-age children the opportunity to go to school.
The governor said, “We have a Child’s Right Act in Ekiti which prohibits parents from disallowing children of school age to be out of school during school session. If your child is not in school when the school is in session, you have a lot to explain because we will apprehend the child whether he is found hawking on the street or engaging in any illicit activities which prevent the child from being in school.
“The parents will have to explain to the government or the relevant institutions why that child is not in school. In order to ensure that we implement that law, we have a family court in the state that takes responsibility for children that are not in school and parents who fail their responsibility.
Fayemi said his administration is opposed to the collection of fees in all public primary and secondary schools in the state, stressing that any teacher caught collecting school fees from pupils would be seen as collecting a bribe.
While urging parents to enrol their wards in public schools where there are qualified teaching personnel, Governor Fayemi said the free education being enjoyed by Ekiti children is a return on the tax being paid by citizens of the state.
Speaking earlier, the Chairman of the State Universal Basic Education Board, Prof Fransisca Aladejana had urged parents to enrol their children and wards in public schools because of the availability of qualified and competent teachers as well as a conducive learning environment, being provided by the government.
The Southwest zonal Director of UBEC, Mrs Mudubi Roseline also called on political and religious leaders to sensitise the people on the importance of enrolling their school-age children this session.