Folashade Adebayo
Beginning from the next academic session, the Lagos State Government has said it would shut down more than 10,000 schools operating illegally in the state.
Deputy Governor, Dr. Idiat Adebule, said operators of the schools, which represent more than two thirds of privately-owned schools in the state, failed to register their schools after the registration procedure was simplified by the ministry of education.
Adebule said this while flagging off the school census programme for private schools at the Adeyemi Bero Auditorium, Alausa, Lagos. The Deputy Governor, who spoke on the theme “Entrenching Best Practices”, noted that the state government would not relent in its efforts to provide quality education and learning environment for pupils in the state.
Adebule who presented approval letters of 119 schools to their proprietors at the event, said, “In essence, about two-third of private schools are operating illegally in the state. About 15,000 private schools are operating in the state and only 4,556 are approved and registered.
“No nation or society can develop better than its quality of human capital. Part of the tools required to perform our task as a regulator is accurate and precise data which the proposed school census was intended to provide for the education sector.’’
In his address, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr. Adesina Odeyemi, warned proprietors to be wary of people parading themselves as officials of the ministry.
He advised them to pay all levies accruing to the state government to the appropriate coffer, adding that no official had been mandated to collect levies on behalf of the state government.
– Punch
