Education, people say is an instrument of change. It is an instrument for achieving social, political, economic and moral standards in a society. Education gives knowledge and develops skills. “The truly civilized man has no enemy,” says Charles F. Dole of America. The Bible also tells us that people perish because they lack knowledge. It urges us to study and show ourselves approved unto God. Francis Bacon summarized the need for education in three words- Knowledge is power.

I give kudos to the state government of Ebonyi state for introducing free education. It is an expensive and valuable project and I want all the students to see it as a great opportunity for them to achieve their academic goals. However, despite the efforts of the government, some obstacles still kick against the programme. Lack of willingness to attend school, societal value for wealth over education and parental influences still inhibit the free education programme. It seems as students and parents, especially in villages; do not know the important of education. The students come to school any day they like, they are more interested in their testimonials rather than their results. In fact, you can hardly see students in schools on market days; they prefer buying and selling to their studies. They are only punctual during the examinations and they will find their way, by any means, to the next class. Most of the students have their own farm which is always in their minds. They leave the school any time they feel and go there. Nothing is wrong in having farm but there is time for everything.

Also, some parents deliberately block their children from attending school; they prefer sending them to one place or the other during the school hours. This is not encouraging and it will not allow the goals of the free education programme to be fully achieved. Both the parents and the students, especially in the villages, need to be enlightened.

Furthermore, there is nothing like attendance registers, or if there is, it is either the teachers do not use it or they don’t take it serious. The government can make it compulsory for the teachers to be marking the students’ attendance register. This will increase the number of students coming to the school. Moral education is also very important. Some students were street boys/girls before coming to school; they just saw the free education and rushed in with their bad behaviours. They lacked discipline and some of them had beaten their teachers. Since it is only God that can change heart, the word of God should be sown in the mind of the students so as to build them both spiritually and academically.

Another thing that needs to be changed is the system whereby the SSS 1 students will stay at home for the whole of their first term, waiting for their JSS 3 results. The body conducting the JSS 3 examination should try to always release the result in good time so that the students would know the class they belong to at the beginning of their first term. Labour is perishable, it is fast fading if you don’t read or practice what you had learnt. A student staying at home for more than four months might have lost everything he/she knew in JSS before returning to school.

Finally, attitude is everything; the students should be more serious in their studies. The free education is a great opportunity and they should not abuse it. They should see their education as a great asset to acquire and if they slack with it they will miss it. With this mind they would be focused and diligent in their studies. Definitely they need to discipline themselves and if they can sacrifice today, they will enjoy tomorrow.