For once, the Imo State Government has struck the right chord in education policy. By banning sham “graduation” ceremonies for kindergarten, nursery, and JSS3 students, and halting the exploitative annual change of textbooks by private schools, it has sent a powerful message that education is about substance, not shallow rituals or profit-driven manipulation.
For far too long, parents in Imo have groaned under the twin burdens of frivolous ceremonies and endless textbook extortion. Every term, schools demanded fresh books—even when existing ones were still valid.
Every academic year, families were dragged through the charade of so-called “graduations” for toddlers who had barely learned their alphabets. Behind these practices lay one motive: profit. Schools treated parents as cash cows, squeezing them at every opportunity.
The new directive by Professor Bernard Ikegwuoha, the Imo State Commissioner for Education, is therefore more than a policy—it is a rescue mission.
By aligning celebrations strictly with Primary 6 and SSS3, the government is restoring dignity to the 6-3-3-4 system. Graduation should be earned at the completion of a major academic cycle, not manufactured for fees and party clothes.
And the textbook policy? Long overdue. Parents across the state will breathe a sigh of relief knowing that books must now have a four-year lifespan.
This ensures siblings can reuse materials, learning is consistent, and families are spared the needless financial strain of buying brand-new editions every September. In a state where poverty bites deep, this single policy could put food back on tables.
But beyond financial relief, the reforms re-centre education where it belongs—on knowledge, not spectacle. When schools constantly change textbooks, students lose continuity, teachers lose structure, and parents lose patience.
When children parade in caps and gowns after nursery school, they absorb the wrong lesson: that education is about ceremonies, not competence. This policy rightly calls an end to that charade.
Critics may argue that banning graduation parties denies children moments of joy. Wrong. Real joy comes from genuine achievement, not from monetized rituals that enrich school proprietors and impoverish parents.
A child finishing SSS3 deserves the stage. A child who has merely completed nursery school deserves encouragement—but not a party disguised as progress.
We commend the state government for also warning faith-based and private schools to stick to approved curriculum textbooks.
Too many schools have acted as mini-empires, dictating terms to desperate parents with zero accountability. That era must end. Education cannot continue to be a marketplace where the highest bidder dictates learning.
Still, the government must go beyond issuing memos and directives.. It must enforce this policy with ruthless consistency. Any school that defies it should face heavy sanctions, including loss of accreditation. Otherwise, unscrupulous proprietors will continue to exploit loopholes, laughing all the way to the bank while parents weep in silence.
Parents, too, must rise to the occasion. This reform is as much their victory as it is government’s.
They must demand compliance from schools and refuse to be intimidated. No parent should pay for a textbook that is not on the approved list, or for a party masquerading as graduation.
For once, Imo has taken the side of its people against exploitative private interests. Let this not be another policy abandoned after headlines fade.
Education is too important to be left to profiteers. By curbing exploitative graduation parties and textbook racketeering, the government has drawn a line in the sand. It must hold that line.
