19th September, 2016
The Lagos State Government says it is set to shut down 10,444 unregistered private schools which littered the state.
The government said it was shocked to discover that out of the 15,000 private schools operating in the state, only 4,556 were registered and vowed to take urgent action to remedy the situation.
Deputy Governor of the state, Dr. Oluranti Adebule disclosed this at the 3rd quarterly stakeholders’ forum of private schools owners held at the Secretariat, Alausa in Ikeja, Lagos, Southwest Nigeria on Monday.
“Government is not comfortable with our discovery that over 15,000 private schools are operating in the State and only just 4,556 are approved and registered; Let me state it clearly, henceforth, Lagos State Government will no longer allow private schools that are not duly registered by the Lagos State Ministry of Education to operate in the State, their operation becomes illegal henceforth in the State,” he warned.
The deputy governor who announced that a total of 119 prospective school owners who applied for registration had been granted provisional approval having met the guidelines set by the State government, warned that schools not registered or approved by the State Ministry of Education would not operate, noting that some schools failed to take the advantage the easy registration procedure put in place by the State government.
She added that the government would soon begin enumeration of all registered private schools operating in the State from 26 September, 2016.
Adebule emphasized the State government’s determination to ensure that all school children had access to quality education irrespective of whether they attend private or public schools, adding that part of the tools at government’s disposal to achieve this objective was maintaining accurate and precise data on schools and their mode of operations, which she said the census sought to achieve.
“The enumeration exercise is aimed at providing the State government with accurate data and necessary information on private schools so as to set effective quality control mechanism in place and monitor compliance,” she stated.
Adebule, who sought the cooperation of all the stakeholders, especially proprietors of private schools to ensure the success of the exercise, noted that the task of making Lagos education a role model of excellence required that all stakeholders must consolidate on their energies, integrate their thoughts and ideals and work together as a team towards achieving the objective.
Maintaining that the foundation of quality human capital development was the primary and secondary institutions, she stated that all relevant stakeholders in the education sector must be ready to follow the rules of engagement which she listed to include; ensuring that only qualified professionals with requisite training were recruited, providing good infrastructure for learning such as libraries, science laboratories as well as encouraging co- curricular activities such as debates, literary activities , science and sport competitions, voluntary societies or clubs so as to produce well rounded students that would help to drive the nation’s economy in the future, among others.
She explained that the State government was taking steps to intensify the upgrade of public school facilities through construction and rehabilitation of more classrooms, libraries and laboratories as the State Executive Council recently approved N10 billion for capital projects in public schools to cover construction, renovation and rehabilitation to ensure conducive learning environment in public schools.
Permanent Secretary, Lagos State Ministry of Education, Mr. Adeshina Odeyemi stated that the forum was aimed at evaluating educational progress of private school students in the State and how to bring about positive development.
He urged private school owners to cooperate with the State government in the implementation of quality educational policies and programmes that would help to raise the standard of education.