Proliferation Of Illegal Private Schools In Anambra

On October 6, the Anambra State Ministry of Education released the list of not less than 874 unregistered (ille­gal) private schools operating in the state.

In an advertorial in the Daily Sun of October 6, on pages 50-53, and signed by the Education Ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Barrister Harry Udu, the state government urged the proprietors of the blacklisted schools to register immediately with the state Ministry of Education or risk being closed for business forthwith.

A breakdown of the illegal primary and secondary schools that almost cut across the 21 local government areas of the state shows that the Awka South Local Government area topped the list with 294; Idemili North Council came second with 79; while Oyi and Idemili South Councils clinched a dis­tant third position with 67 of such il­licit centres of learning respectively.

Similarly, Nnewi North Local Gov­ernment ranked 4th with 52 schools; and quickly followed by Ogbaru council with 44; and Onitsha North Council with 37. Aguata Council got 36; Ihiala and Orumba South had 31 each; Ekwusigo 23 while Anambra East got 21. Also, Nnewi South and Njikoka had 16 each; Awka North 15; Anambra West and Anaocha 11 each; Onitsha South and Orumba North 8 respectively while Ayamelum came last with 7.

It is commendable that the Anam­bra State Ministry of Education has published the worrisome list of illegal private schools in the state. The offi­cials of the Ministry of Education that fished out the illegal schools deserves a pat on their back for a job well done. Although the education ministry did not give a deadline for the illegal schools to register before being shut down, we implore them to give ample time and opportunity for the affected schools to remedy the situation.

However, we do not believe that this statistics of illegal private primary and post-primary schools are pecu­liar to the state. There is no doubt that such schools may have been op­erating unhindered in other remain­ing 35 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). And if the scenario is a true reflec­tion of the situation at hand, then the country would be preparing to grap­ple with the consequences of having large number of unregistered private primary and secondary schools in al­ready problematic education sector.

Besides being illegitimate, these schools might lack adequate manpow­er and infrastructure and equipment to operate as schools. The presence of such illegal schools with unquali­fied teaching staff does more harm to the education sector than any other sector. We call on other state minis­tries of education and those in charge of education in FCT to beam their searchlight on schools in their respec­tive domain in order to discover such illegal schools that dot the nooks and crannies of the entire country. They should not rest on their oars with the hope that all is well with the educa­tion sector while unscrupulous pro­prietors are bent on worsening the already worse standard of education in the country through the operation of illegal schools.

It is understandable that there is greater need for primary and second­ary education, especially in urban settings, but care must be taken to ensure that the standard is not com­promised.

Care must also be taken in giving operation licences for proprietors of private schools to ensure that quality is not compromised. All those that op­erate illegally should be closed down to avoid unnecessary watering down of the standard of education, especial­ly at such basic levels in the country.

Beyond this, government should find ways to increase access to educa­tion at primary and secondary stages which are broader than the tertiary level in the education pyramid. We say this bearing in mind that gov­ernment has made it mandatory for every Nigerian child to be educated from primary school to at least the Junior Secondary School (JSS3) level. For this policy to work, government should broaden access to education that will make it impossible for ille­gal private schools to proliferate and flourish in the country as the case of Anambra State has seemingly dem­onstrated.

Since education is on the concur­rent legislative list, we urge all the stakeholders in the federal, state and local governments to act in concert to check the unbridled increase in il­legal schools. Surely, education is in­deed the best legacy that can be be­queathed to the teeming youths. But such a noble legacy is likely to be viti­ated when the quality is compromised through illegal private schools at the basic levels.

 The Sun Editorial