Over the years, there has been an aberrant standard that has defined the Nigerian educational system, especially in the northern parts of the country. There has been numerous reports pointing to the lackadaisical state of the educational sector in the north like Kaduna government sacking over 2000 teachers for their woeful competence test performances and the northeast’s under performances in regards to the General Certificate for Secondary School standards. Many northern states have found it immensely herculean closing the gap with other parts of the country, Education wise.
Recently, the Plateau State government has revoked all the private primary and secondary schools operating in the state with immediate effect, due to the unprincipled standards that the institutions have projected. These unethical standards have critically affected the educational standards of the state. With this development, there is a need for these private schools to revalidate their certification, which is planned by the state government to undergo immense evaluations. This was made known by the state’s Commissioner for Education, Elizabeth Wapmuk.
Many Private schools operate without adhering to quality assurance policies
According to the Education Commissioner, the operating license of all the private primary and secondary schools in the state has been deregistered, effective immediately from the July 28th, 2022 and with this order, all private schools are to go through a state-conducted evaluation practice which will indicate their license revalidation. She made it known that it was a unanimous decision by the state government that the private schools must revalidate their certification before the 2022/2023 academic session commences or they risk losing their right to operate.
Noting some of the reasons for this decision, Elizabeth Wapmuk said that while the quality assurance mandate requires that all private schools revalidate their operation license every five years, numerous private schools in the state continue to operate for decades without adhering to the mandate of the quality assurance. She warned that parents must be observant enough to register their children with schools that have revalidated their license to operate or the children would be restricted from involving in all state approved federal and state government’s examinations.
Over 5000 schools in the state currently operate without a valid license.
According to her, reliable sources have indicated that over 5000 schools in the state currently operate without any valid license. Also, an estimated 85 percent of the 485 private schools with a legitimate operating license have compromised their standards and 90 percent of these private schools fail to adhere to governmental policies. Further justifying this decision, she asserted that numerous private schools are fond of employing secondary school graduates, which opposes the governmental policy that demands the minimum of an NCE or degree certificate that should be registered with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.
She added that numerous private schools indulge in the act of concealing their school environments , so as to avoid any form of routine inspection and on the long run, these concealed premises serve as hideout for many criminal activities. The rapid increase in the number of unlicensed private schools have deprived the government of potential impacts on education in the state. Due to these reasons, Elizabeth Wapmuk stated that the Ministry of Education is set to rapidly inspect a revalidation process that will ensure that private schools submit their initial operating license to the Ministry of Education, while new certifications will also be issued to establishing schools after completing the federal and state’s quality assurance processes.
Revalidation process to check the growth of illegal schools in the state.
The Commissioner stated that the ministry have put in place, a revalidation committee that will ensure the revalidation of all private schools in Plateau state and from the August 8th, 2022, the schools are to submit the necessary documents to the zonal offices of education closest to them. She reiterated that only private schools that undergo this revalidation process will legitimately be permitted to commence the 2022/2023 academic session in September. She however said that this process is posed to check and salvage the growth of illegal schools that have ravaged the state, and support the legitimate private schools that work with the policies of the federal government in ensuring quality education to all children in the state.
