The Special Adviser to Governor Ben Ayade on Education, Castro Ezama, has drawn widespread condemnation after claiming that more than 60% of the girl child in secondary schools in Cross River State are not virgins.
Ezama said this while speaking on the government’s effort to improve the standard of education in the state during a programme on FAD FM Radio in Calabar.
He said there was a high level of promiscuity and permissiveness amongst students in the state, Daily Post reports.
He said, “50 or 60% of girls in our secondary schools are not virgins. And this is not good for the image of the state and of education.”
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Another aide to the governor on Public Communication, Eugene Upah, who corroborated Ezama, said, “I was with Castro Ezama sometime back when he interacted with secondary school students. The revelations from some of them confirmed the statistics….”
Meanwhile, reactions have trailed the comments made by the governor’s aides.
A councillor representing Ward 7 in Bakassi Local Government Area, Grace Bassey, said such a statement was demeaning of the girl child.
She rued the statement which highlighted sexual issues about girls while excluding the boy child, stressing that it was “totally unacceptable” and should be condemned.
