The abundance of unapproved private schools across Anambra State has been attributed to the failure of the State Government to provide quality and qualitative education to the Anambra people.
The State Government, through the Ministry of Education, had last week, released a long list of unapproved primary and secondary schools operating across the state, numbering about 2,000.
While criminalizing the operation of unapproved schools in the state, the Ministry had threatened to shut them down and prosecute the operators.
But in reaction to the publication of the list and the government’s threat, a professor of Public Health Parasitology at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Dennis Aribodor noted that the drastic drop in the quality of education at the public schools necessitated the establishment of the private schools in the first place.
According to him, public schools which were first choice institutions for parents fell short of standards and this led to parents and guardians looking for other options in private schools.
He further blamed the State Education Ministry for its laxity in the areas of monitoring and supervision, which led to the emergence of unapproved schools.
“The first question to ask is how all these schools came about and where was the government.
“Today, public primary and secondary schools have collapsed to the extent that it hardly the first choice for any parent that wants quality education for their children,” he said.
Aribodor urged Anambra State Government to invest in improving the quality of education at the public schools, to make them the first choice for parents, pupils, and students.
These investments he noted, must come in the areas of improved infrastructure, quality teachers, improved teachers’ welfare, and provision of educational support equipment.
According to him, when the public schools are up and running and parents begin to send their children and wards there, the unapproved private schools will find the venture unlucrative and fizzle out.
The professor advised the government not to clamp down on all the unapproved schools but to identify those with the relevant facilities to regularize their registration.
For a public affairs analyst, Prince Rapuluchukwu Nwaezekwe, the accumulated inefficiency of government over time to plan along the trajectory of population growth and demands, was what led to the situation that made the education sector a cash cow for people.
He regretted that over the years, the unapproved schools that are not monitored to ensure quality assurance, have churned out pupils and students, who cannot contribute meaningfully to society.
Nwaezekwe suggested that even if the government wants to shut down such unapproved schools, it must be a phased phasing out so that the system does not collapse because some of these unapproved actually complement efforts in the education sector.
“Some of these schools actually came on board because of the lapses observed. You can find a whole village without a public school. This made people to begin to invest in providing such services.
“Imagine the collapse that will happen when the government all of sudden, shuts down these schools without an alternative. The implication is that the number of out-of-school children will skyrocket and huge pressure will be on parents and teachers,” he opined.
On his part, a lecturer with the Philosophy Department at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Dr Chidi Obi queried whether the plan to shut down the unapproved schools was in good faith, considering how the government initiatives have proven over the years, to be driven by pecuniary interests.
He believes that if the schools today come up with money and offers to the government, they will be opened, insisting that the education sector has been commercialized.
Dr. Obi said what the government should begin to do is to go back and begin to resolve some foundational issues that have made the education system moribund such as repositioning the public education system and not seeking to shut down the unapproved schools.
