Sanitising Private Schools In Rivers

Deeply disturbed by the low standards of education and decrepit infrastructure in privately-owned primary and secondary schools in Rivers State, the Governor, Barrister Nyesom Ezenwo Wike, recently withdrew operational approvals of all private schools and directed them to seek fresh licences within two weeks from the date of pronouncement.
The governor gave the directives at a meeting with all private school owners at the Government House, Port Harcourt. According to him, “All the schools must apply for operational approval within the next two weeks. We will set up committees that will recommend the approval of schools.  All the schools in the state must be up to the  required standard.”
Soon after issuing the directive, a Committee For Accreditation And Approval Of Private Schools In Rivers State was set up. Inaugurating the committee headed by the Vice-chancellor of the Ignatius Ajuru University of Education, Rumuolumeni, Port Harcourt, Prof Ozo-Mekuri Ndimele, the Governor said: “I plead with you to be committed to delivering on this assignment because it is critical to the development of education in the state.”
The Tide endorses such measures against illegal and unapproved schools. For any educational institution to operate in the State, such a school should, by law, meet certain basic requirements such as availability of functional science laboratory, befitting library, recreational facilities, qualified manpower, sporting facilities, and conducive environment for effective learning.
Strangely, many private schools fall short of this and operate without the mandatory requirements. In fact, many of them convert residential houses into schools and operate in sub-human environments without consideration for the concomitant health hazards such an environment poses to their pupils, wards and staff.
We have also observed that a good number of private schools employ non-qualified teaching personnel. While the minimum teaching qualification is the Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE), some of them engage secondary school dropouts, who can hardly read and write effectively.
We are not surprised by this move of the government because one of the thrusts of Wike’s education policy is to eradicate illiteracy in Rivers State and utilise education to address the myriad problems plaguing the State and the Niger Delta region. We commend the governor for his enormous efforts to reposition education in the state, especially at the basic level. The proliferation of poor quality privately-owned schools in the State is a huge source of profound concern to stakeholders in the education sector. A significant reason for the disquieting worry emanates from the fact that many of such schools often operate outside government’s set specifications for learning.
Ironically, such school operators short-change unsuspecting members of the public through the imposition of outrageous fees and levies without corresponding outputs. Cases abound of reports by parents complaining about frustrations associated with meeting the financial obligations of their children or wards in such schools.
Given the foregoing, The Tide urges the Ndimele’s committee to swing into action without prejudice to the sensitive nature of its task. The committee should, in line with the governor’s directive, carry out a far-reaching inspection of all private schools in the State and identify defaulters accordingly. Members of the committee have to discharge the assignment whole-heartedly and regard it as a mission to salvage basic education in the state.
The Tide thinks that the State Government should go beyond this ad hoc approach for a more permanent solution to the problem. Consequently, we suggest that the Inspectorate Division of the State Ministry of Education should be reactivated to undertake a regular and all-inclusive survey of all private schools with a view to checking a reincarnation of unapproved places of learning after the committee’s work.
Also, we call on the State Government to extend this sacred mandate of the committee to include the inspection of public-owned educational institutions situated in the remote areas of the state. This is because many of them are unfit and cannot be referred to as academic centres in every sense of it. So, they deserve the same kind of redemptive measures as their private school counterparts.
We recall that sometime last year, a similar committee was instituted by the current administration to discover unapproved schools and those performing below standards. Sadly, many of such schools still operate without accreditation or licence, yet little or no sanctions have been imposed on them. That act of omission must have emboldened others to establish more phoney schools.
On the whole, we think that functional education is next in substance only to freedom and justice. Therefore, we urge the State government to prioritise education at the foundation level. Such a malleable national objective cannot be left in the hands of charlatans who exploit the citizenry for self-aggrandisement.