Lagos shelves plan to shut illegal private schools
By Fabian Ozor,
Senior
Correspondent,
Lagos
Lagos State
government may have soft-pedalled on its plan to close down all unregistered
private schools operating in the state.
The government,
through the state Commissioner for Education, Dr. Kunle Lawal, gave all private
schools operating in the state that were yet to register up to June to do so or
rick closure. However, two months after the expiration of the deadline, the
government is yet to make do its threat while Daily Independent investigation
revealed that there was no move for the Ministry of Education to close down the
schools.
At the ministry, it
was also discovered that out of over 3,000 private nursery, primary and
secondary schools in the state only 1,035 of them have so far registered
between January and now.
A breakdown showed
that 99 nursery and primary schools have so far registered while only 35
private secondary schools have done so out of over 3,000 schools.
Lawal in an
interview in his office said the state government was adopting a new strategy
to ensure that those schools that were yet to register do so as soon as
possible.
He expressed
satisfaction with the level of registration going on in the state, saying,
“We have approved more in the last one year than ever before.
“Government
of Lagos State wants as many private schools as possible. The proprietors are
trying their best to ensure that they register. You see money is too hard to
come by and if we close the schools, they will suffer,” he said. The commissioner
disclosed that the inspectorate department in his ministry was being
re-invigorated to enable the department register more schools as well as
conduct thorough inspection to ensure quality standard. Daily Independent investigation
revealed that there might be more illegal private schools in Lagos than the
number the government stated, as every uncompleted building and warehouse in
most parts of Lagos has been converted to a school.
While these schools
were operating illegally, they charged high fees and provided lesser academic
quality as they most often employ unqualified teachers.
Meanwhile, a school
principal, Mr. Adetunji Victor, has urged the state government to check the
activities of mushrooms schools with a view of ensuring quality and sound
education.
Adetunji, who is
the principal of Triumphant Schools, lamented that the existence of quacks and
unqualified teachers in most private schools have affected the standard of
teaching in schools in Nigeria.
Copyright�
2004. All Rights Reserved.
Independent
Newspapers Limited
Block5,
Plot 7D, Wempco Road, Ogba, P.M.B.
21777, Ikeja, Lagos State, Nigeria. www.independentng.com
e-mail:
[email protected]
