The Ondo State Government has announced a ban on graduation parties for nursery and junior secondary school pupils, saying the practice places an unnecessary financial burden on parents and distracts from the true essence of education.
The Commissioner for Education, Igbekele Ajibefun, made this known during a meeting with proprietors of schools across the state’s 18 local government areas.
The ministry’s press officer, Bisi Lawani, in a statement on Wednesday, confirmed that the directive takes immediate effect.
Ajibefun said the government’s decision is aimed at reducing costs for parents while ensuring that graduation ceremonies are reserved for Primary 6 and Senior Secondary 3 students, as prescribed by Nigeria’s 6-3-3-4 education policy.
He added that the state has also outlawed illegal and unregistered schools and will soon commence a re-accreditation exercise for private schools to restore standards in the education sector.
“It is obvious that things have gone bad in the education sector; there are urgent issues we need to address so that we can bring back the lost glory,” Ajibefun noted.
The new policy places Ondo State alongside Benue and Imo, which recently announced similar bans.
In Imo, Commissioner for Education Bernard Ikegwuoha, in a memo dated August 15, directed that only Primary 6 and Senior Secondary 3 pupils are eligible to graduate.
Likewise, in Benue, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Helen Nambativ, on August 21, announced a prohibition of graduation ceremonies at kindergarten, nursery and basic school levels.
With these bans, state governments say they hope to check unnecessary spending by parents, restore discipline, and strengthen academic focus across schools in the country.