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The Anambra State government has issued a final warning to schools dragging their feet on the 2024/2025 Annual School Census, insisting that non-compliance will attract outright closure.
Education Commissioner Ngozi Chuma-Udeh, in a statement from Awka on Saturday, said the exercise was no longer optional. “I have received the list of defaulting schools,” she said. “This directive serves as a final warning. After the census exercise, the list of those schools will be published.”
The census, coordinated through the Federal Ministry of Education’s portal, requires every public, private, and mission school in Anambra to register, providing data on students, teachers, and facilities. The information feeds into a national database used for policy planning and resource allocation.
Behind the stiff directive lies a broader concern: dozens of schools have continued to operate without submitting accurate records, leaving gaps in teacher distribution, classroom provision, and funding decisions. State officials argue that without data, interventions amount to little more than guesswork.
Analysts note that past census reports exposed major disparities — from rural schools crammed with pupils but lacking teachers, to urban private academies running without proper licensing. The government has struggled to track them, partly because some institutions avoid official registration to escape scrutiny.
By threatening closures, Anambra is moving to assert tighter control. The measure also signals a growing push among Nigerian states to link education funding more directly to reliable numbers.
For Anambra, the stakes are particularly high: its school system, a blend of public institutions and powerful mission-run colleges, has long prided itself on producing strong academic results. Officials now say the census is the only way to protect that legacy in an era of swelling enrollment and stretched resources.
Failure to comply, Chuma-Udeh warned, will mean being struck off the roll — a move that could leave students stranded.
