Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Edo State Government has formally commenced the handover of public schools to the Catholic Mission, despite outcry and protest from stakeholders in the state’s education sector.
DAILY POST reports that Governor Monday Okpebholo, during a meeting with Bishop Gabriel Dunia of the Catholic Diocese of Auchi on June 16, 2025, at Government House, announced that the government would hand over public schools to their original missionary owners in the state.
At the meeting, the governor listed eight schools in the Edo North senatorial district scheduled to be handed over to the Catholic Mission.
Barely more than a week after the announcement, specifically on Wednesday, June 26, 2025, the governor announced an additional 28 schools across both the Edo Central and Edo South senatorial districts that would also be affected by the handover exercise.
Within 72 hours of naming the additional 28 schools, bringing the total number of schools to 36, the governor, on Friday, officially commenced the exercise by handing over St. Maria Goretti College in Benin City to the Catholic Mission.
Okpebholo said the handover of St. Maria Goretti College, an all-girls school, to the Catholic Mission is part of his administration’s sweeping education reform policy aimed at improving academic and moral standards in public schools across the state.
The official handover ceremony took place at the Ministry of Education in Benin City, with the Commissioner for Education, Dr Paddy Iyamu, in attendance alongside representatives of the Catholic Archdiocese of Benin.
St. Maria Goretti College, established decades ago and named after the young Catholic saint known for her purity and courage, has a rich legacy of producing generations of accomplished Nigerian women, moulded by discipline, academic excellence, and strong moral values.
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