The Institute of Education, University of Ilorin is to provide free adult education and counselling services to its host community, Prof. Mudashiru Yusuf, the Director of the Institute, has said.

Yusuf told newsmen in Ilorin, Kwara on Monday that the services, which would commence before the end of the year, was part of the university's corporate social responsibility.

"Efforts are on to bring back the self-sustaining extramural classes for candidates who have been failing in public examinations like the UTME and WAEC.

"The programme will be carried out as social services, its costs will be within the means of members of the University's host community," he said.

The director said that the institute would introduce diploma programmes in Human Kinetics, Health Education, Instructional Radio and Television, Arts and Craft, and Photography for School Certificate holders, and HND conversion programme.

Yusuf explained that the expansion of the courses was part of the Institute's mandate to add value to the socio-economic development of its host community. "We are planning a Community Counselling Centre, which is going to be a free service by the University.

"Experts will be engaged to counsel on marital affairs, academic matters, job issues, mental health issues, and teenage affairs, "he said. Yusuf said the initiative was a joint effort of the university's Counselling Unit, Centre for Supportive Services for the Deaf, Department of Health Education and the College of Health Sciences.

"We want to give the community a standard extramural environment where students will be taught and not assisted to cheat like some centres are doing; we want to set the standard.

"We are educators; we know the standard and we will not just be blaming others for doing what is wrong, we will establish the standard and then others will follow the standard," he said. According to him, the infrastructure required for the take-off of the programme "are on ground." "We are discussing with the administration and we are calling experts to assess what we have on ground, and efforts are on to ensure that this place is put into very good shape," he said.