Chinedum Elekwachi
Anambra state government has charged all private school owners in the state to secure necessary approvals before September or risk their being shut down.
Commissioner for Education, Prof Ngozi Chuma-Udeh gave the warning during stakeholders’ meeting with proprietors of private schools in the state.
She wondered reasons behind delay in securing such approvals despite series of warnings and extension grace period, saying further delay would no longer be tolerated.
She said, “There are still many of the schools in the state that are yet to be approved. The time given by the governor to shut down such schools has expired.
“I took permission from Governor to extend the time and has been holding back the task force from carrying out their tasks.
“The owners of the schools are still delaying. We called this meeting to know reason for the delay.
“But if by the beginning of third term, those schools are yet to be approved, we will close them. That’s what the law stipulates and we’ve given enough grace.
Prof. Chuma-Udeh the ministry has received complaints from some proprietors over incessant harassment by charlatans masquerading as government officials to extort money from school owners.
“We will not tolerate the barging of these armed persons into the schools demanding for money for various issues.
“We’ll find solutions and come up with resolutions which we’ll communicate to community leaders,” the Commissioner promised.
“As a Commissioner, I won’t extort anyone, neither will I allow anyone to extort.
She stressed the need for the proprietors to be aware of their rights to avoid intimidation by anyone.
“Our schools must be devoid of any form of violence as such can easily get into the pupils’ psyche.
The commissioner condemned lateness of some participants to the meeting, an attitude she noted portrays teaching profession in bad light.
“We’re models to our children and they emulate us. We must take time seriously. This meeting is for 10am but see when many of us are coming.
“Yes, some of us may have genuine reasons for coming later. But we’ll no longer tolerate lateness. Defaulters will be sanctioned,” she warned.
The rate at which private schools are set up these days is alarming with some of them not meeting educational standard in terms of structure and quality teachers
From what I know back then, the process of getting a school approved was really costly, proprietors at Lagos once shared their experiences with us, government agencies will keep demanding money for unnecessary things before the approval.
Don’t know if it’s still that way in Anambra
Thanks for your comments. Your view is considered valid and this should be looked be looked into by the government.