₦airaland Forum

The Lagos State Government, through the Ministry of Education, has given approval for the establishment of 173 private schools across the state’s five divisions.

The Commissioner for Education, Mrs Folasade Adefisayo, made this known while issuing letters of approval to the beneficiaries in Ikeja.

Adefisayo said in a statement released on Tuesday that the approval for the private schools was part of efforts to entrench inclusiveness in the education sector.

She said that the present administration was willing to partner with critical stakeholders in the Private Education Sector, as a catalyst to take education in the state to the next level.

“Despite the fact that the number of schools in Lagos, especially in the private sector, has increased tremendously, the yawning gap between demand and supply clearly shows that more schools are needed to meet our educational target.

“We need more private schools to come on board for us to be able to cater to the ever-increasing educational needs of a fast-growing metropolis like ours,” the commissioner said.

Adefisayo urged all school owners to reflect excellence in their service delivery, integrate 21st century skills into their teaching methods and to make provision for special students.

She urged school owners to employ only qualified teachers, emphasise digital literacy and adhere to the recommended curriculum for teaching.

The Director, Private Education and Special Programmes, Mrs Adetutu Adebowale, said that there was the need for school owners to maintain the standard that earned them the approval of the state government.

Adebowale said that private school operators could not afford to fail in their complementary role needed to move the sector to greater heights.

Responding on behalf of the private nursery and primary schools, Mrs Chinyelu Anidebe, a school proprietor, urged the ministry to always make the new curriculum available on time.

Anidebe called on the ministry to update the current curriculum and initiate enlightenment programmes aimed at dissuading parents from encouraging their children to skip primary six.

In the same vein, another proprietor, Capt. Femi Olaiya, representing the secondary school subsector, encouraged the ministry to utilise all available media to disseminate information on the criteria for approval to school owners and to also hasten the process.

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I laugh.... In other states of Nigeria, establishing a private school is just like opening a business Centre.

You just get rooms, board, chair, teacher and you're good to go.

If it blossoms after some years then you can now contemplate registering with the authorities

Wow.. That's a lot

Kudos to Governor Sanwo Olu

Good decision.

good moves because education goes a long way and hope school fees no go kee pocket. every child has the right to education, give a child education and not just abadon them. call for aluminium windows in casement windows, casement burglary,09034377258whatsapp. our education system should be looked into.

No jobs created but una dey create more schools, church, mosques and expand prisons, people are being thought just enough to use English to swindle hence its preschool - common entrance - jamb - efcc - kiri kiri Jo soapy..

Very good sir

All this substandard schools getting approval.....once u get a flat and paint it different colours then you are qualified.....the proprietors are just after money

,

Ok

this clearly shows the failure of govt.

If there had been proper planning with the right data, the gov't is supposed to know the no. Of schools it would need in say 10yrs.

This proliferation of private schools is part of what is fuelling corruption. Because govt schools are not longer upto standard, And since everyone is now sending his ward to private school wether they hav the financial muscle or not ,they hav to look for ways to make money through any means to be able to pay for the schools

Never knew it is this tedious to open private schools. In North lol every Tom dick and Harry can venture into it without breaking sweat

Meanwhile... government schools are dilapidating.

So they have abandoned public schools?

Unfortunately they did not address the issue of the specifications of how a standard school should be setup and as well as high school fees charged by these private schools. Some of these schools just set up their schools anywhere and anyhow without consideration to safety, space, ventilation, distraction, locations, hygiene, and conduciveness of the environment for sports and other extracurricular activities that make learning complete. And above all the school fees are too exorbitant for the common men who would want to patronize.

We need more institutes in this country...

crafteck:
No jobs created but una dey create more schools, church, mosques and expand prisons, people are being thought just enough to use English to swindle hence its preschool - common entrance - jamb - efcc - kiri kiri Jo soapy..

No jobs created
Na goat go dey teach for the schools??
Abi teaching is no more an employment?

helinues:
Wow.. That's a lot

Kudos to Governor Sanwo Olu

Kudos to mediocrity.

I believe that Baba Kekere is one of the best governors that Lagos has ever had (you'll see why in a minute), but I also acknowledge his flaws. However, it's very difficult for most people to assess him objectively. They either love him dearly or hate him passionately.

LKJ implemented the progressive/welfarist manifesto of the UPN to the letter. The LSTC was still running at the time that Jakande was governor and he converted some of the LSTC buses (including some of the air conditioned buses) into Scholars Bus, buses that were specifically designated to convey primary and secondary school children to and from school for free.

He utilised the Lagos State Development and Property Corporation (LSDPC) to build low cost houses/flats, which low and medium income people could buy via a mortgage scheme (they paid back in instalments over a 10-25 year period).

Jakande endeared himself to the people by using his private car, a Toyota Crown (or was it a Cressida?) as his official car, rather than one of the long wheel base mercedes limousines that were common at the time. (He used that same car as his official car when he became Minister of Works in the Abacha Government, but his motorcade looked funny to me because the official Peugoet 505 Evolution that was meant to be his official car was often driven behind the Toyota).

Governor Jakande revived the Lagos Metroline plan which had been abandoned by the previous military government. The system had been originally planned by United Nations experts that were advising the Federal Government in the 1960s, but successive governments were not serious about it. Governor Jakande was very serious about it and the right of way had already been demarcated by the time he was removed from office.

He established the Lagos Television (LTV), the only state tv station (the previous state and regional tv stations had been taken over by the Federal Military Government in the mid-1970s). The NPN controlled Federal Government quickly established a youth oriented tv station on the exact same frequency (NTA2 Channel 5) and LTV was eventually forced to move to Channel 8 (it was forced to move again in the 1990s, when the Federal Government reserved the VHF frequency band for only Federal Government owned stations. It eventually settled on Channel 35).

He also established Lasu, a multi-campus university that was modelled after the University of California multi-campus system.

But, the most controversial policy of the government (and the policy that was the subject of Sunday's debate) was the education policy.

The Federal Military Government had taken over private primary and secondary schools in the 1970s. Part of the reason for the take over was the fear that most of these schools were, in one way or another, controlled by foreign organisations and people, such as foreign missionaries and that it was dangerous to leave the education of Nigerian children in the hands of foreigners. These primary and secondary schools were handed over to the states by the Federal Government (the Federal Military Government also took over regional/state owned universities and still owns and manages those universities today).

Governor Jakande decided that every child must attend school, that they (and their parents) must spend little or nothing to get an education and that this must be done on budget (that is, the government must also not overspend in order to achieve this). So the government created numerous schools (I don't think any government in the history of Lagos has created as many schools as Jakande did).

The scholars buses ferried children to and from school free of charge and the government also reached agreements with publishers to supply books to the schools at no cost to the students.

I took some of those books from one of those students at that time and below are pictures of one of those books.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/10485552_101209415112779724628382974985295233809545n_jpegf25c7149db0ded952da615210e0b0c92

www.nairaland.com/attachments/10485553_1054885415112786091294413277182517401698560o_jpeg9a86eea7fd3015de841be594b17c80e7


You can see that it has the Seal of the Lagos State Government on it. This notice is stamped on some of the pages of the book - "Property of the Lagos State Government. Not for sale" (the notice on the pages of another book reads - "Property of the Lagos State Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Not for sale" ). The name of the particular school was also stamped on the books and it was a huge offence to sell those books.

One of my favourite parts of the policy and one that was hated by many students, is the part that was known as Center. Basically, students from schools in a particular area or neighbourhood would congregate at a centre in which they would be taught woodwork, home economics and other hands on subjects.

So, how can anyone have a problem with this policy?

1) Multiple schools: - Remember that most of these schools were seized from their original owners, most of whom were european missionaries. The missionaries believed in total, all-round education. They believed that it was important to educate the mind, body and soul. So most of those schools had large football fields, cricket pitches, basketball and tennis courts, chapels and mosques and even swimming pools. They also had farms for agricultural science and facilities for music, arts and drama.

Jakande was determined to get as many people as possible into school, so he built new classroom blocks on those sports facilities. Several schools were built in the same compound. You had "Government College, School 1", "Government College, School 2", "Government College, School 3" (sounds like a nollywood movie, doesn't it?) and so on and so forth. Many of the schools (classroom blocks) were built so close to each other that they were poorly ventilated. If you go round Lagos, you'd see a lot of these schools that were established between 1980 and 1982.

Someone complained, "What kind of schools were those? They had no laboratories, no sports facilities, no libraries, just blocks of badly built classrooms".

The original owners and ex-students of these schools were also very upset that their school compounds were being broken up in this manner (a visit to Igbobi College or Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School will give you an idea of what happened. The Aunty Ayo School system was divided into 3 schools!).

2) The buildings: - The quality of the new buildings was also another source of concern. I watched a documentary on Jakande's birthday, in which the project coordinator explained what happened. Jakande told her that he wanted X number of classrooms built at Y amount. She went, did her study and came back and told him that it was impossible. He replied that he had faith in her and he knew that she could do it and restated that he wanted X number of classrooms built at Y amount. That she should find out where she can make savings. So she went back and made some adjustments. Rather than using glass window panes, they used wood. They made other similar adjustments and were able to build X number of schools for Y amount.

This was one of the things that infuriated people the most. One of my friends on Sunday complained that, "I can never like that guy. I don't know why people are trying to whitewash and launder his image. That guy built chicken sheds in my school and called them classrooms!"

Many of those classroom blocks were very basic. Some had no coat of paint, some had wooden windows, no fans, no electricity, etc.

Governor Mudashiru, who took over from Jakande, had to spend a lot of money to upgrade some of the classroom blocks.

3) Interview: - Like I said earlier, the missionairies and the colonial government believed in total education. They believed that they should not only educate the mind, but that they should also develop the body, social skills, behaviour and spiritual needs of the child. So there were sports activities, plays, musical performances, etc.

Thus, prospective students were interviewed and investigated to determine their suitability, not only academically (which would have been determined by the entrance examinations), but also in terms of character.

Jakande's policy dictated that school districts were divided into catchment areas. Principals of secondary schools had to accept students from specified primary schools in their catchment areas (so long as the student passed the G2 primary school leaving certificate exam [one of the easiest exams you could ever take). It was also very difficult for the principals to expel these students, except the student failed promotion exams twice.

The result was that many unruly students were admitted into these schools. Discipline broke down. It became quite normal to read stories in the newspapers about students beating up teachers and even principals. This was also one of the reasons why the old Principals Cup Competition was suspended. Extreme violence often accompanied these football matches. Secondary school students went to school and football matches with axes (known as UTC), cutlasses and other dangerous weapons.

4) Carrying capacity: - The policy led to a dramatic increase in school enrollment and this put a huge strain on facilities (despite the rapid increase in schools and classrooms). Most schools, pre-1979, had a student-class ratio of 25 or 30 students per class. This changed during the Jakande era and it was not unusual to see classrooms with 60 to 100 students.

5) Shift system and boarding facilities: - Jakande's aim was to provide education to as many people as possible, so it was very strange that he abolished the shift system.

Pre-1979, people who were unable to get an education when they were younger and those who could not make it into the regular morning session because of space constraints, could enroll in the evening school system. Most schools had both a morning and an evening session (usually using the same school buildings, but sometimes using separate buildings). Jakande abolished that system and the morning session became the only session. For example, the facilities that were used for St Gregory's College's evening session became the Government College Victoria Island (GoCoVi). The shift system was initially created by the civillian and military governments of the 1960s, when the launched "universal education" policies. The facilities overstretched the existing facilities, so they had to introduce a shift system.

Jakande also abolished the boarding school system. The government planned to demolish the hostels and build classroom blocks where the hostels previously stood.

Now, certain families have a tradition of attending the legacy schools in Lagos. The legacy schools include:

CMS Grammar School, Methodist Boys High School, Methodist Girls High School, Anwar-Ul Islam Model College (formerly Ahmadiyya College and before that, it was known as Saka Tinubu), Anwar-Ul Islam Girls High School (formerly Ahmadiyya Girls College), St Gregory's College, Holy Child College, Baptist Academy, Kings College, Queens College, St Finbarr's College, Our Lady Of Apostles Secondary School, Maryland Comprehensive Secondary School, Aunty Ayo International School, etc. (All of these schools, except Kings and Queens College, were taken over by the State Government. Aunty Ayo was divided into 3 and 2 of the schools were taken over by the State, while one remained private).

I know a family which has had at least one member in a particular school every decade since the 1920s. I know another family in which the tradition is so strong that the children are brought back to Lagos, from wherever they are in the world, to attend a particular school (or its sister school). These families were very angry at the way that Jakande was "destroying" "their" schools. The Catholic Archbishop of Lagos, Anthony Okogie, launched scathing attacks against Jakande in the newspapers. He also instituted several lawsuits against the Lagos State Government. The families made several attempts to stop the LASG's attempt to "destroy" their schools. The Old Boys of Igbobi College stopped funding the school at a point, because they were depressed by what was happening to it.

It became an insult to be referred to as a Jakande boy or Jakande girl (they were synonymous with the word "thug" ) or for someone to say that you attended a Jakande school.

However, like my other friend would point out, this policy enabled many people who would probably have been uneducated and a problem to society, to get an education, get a job, feed their family/be independent and contribute to Nigeria's development. Cricket pitches, football fields, etc are a small price to pay in exchange for that.

[s]

helinues:
Wow.. That's a lot

Kudos to Governor Sanwo Olu

[/s]

Failed government!!!
It's government job to provide sound education for the citizens, they should rather expand, upgrade and standardize the existing ones, train and employ teachers.

Government should look at it from this angle also that private schools are contributory to poverty level in Nigeria. Average mushroom school will charge #25k per term. Imagine a modest family with two kids with total income of 100k monthly. How will they survive if one third of their earnings within the space of 3 months is just for fees and snacks for just 2 kids. How will other bills be paid, how will they prosper. It will shock you to know that almost all school owners are there for business and not to render service to humanity.

I was privileged to observe the activities of ministry of education in Kigali Rwanda, you will be amazed at their level of organization, now compare to what obtains in Lagos. Civil servants turn themselves to civil masters and office space as gist parlor.

What we need is regulation and full government involvement.

173 PRIVATE SCHOOLS abi ?

I laff in ARABIC...

What will happen if government build schools ?

Now, na parents wan suffer ham Cx ordinary mouth no dey pay fees for these *private schools* especially Lagos wey everything na competition.

And some *mugus* dey clap say wetin...I pity una ; e be like una never dey pay pikin school fees sef.

After una go come begin know say "Na Dem" carry government money go build these schools, dem go come make ham look like say na the huge amount of money wey you dey pay naim go make pikin life better.

Instead make una ask ham wetin do the so called GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS IN LAGOS...

It's actually their intentions to make government look like hell so dem go fi gather una money put for pocket ; se una sef like better thing and una no go wan open eye see una pikin dem in some kind yeye *government schools*

Iffa no talk now, e go be like say pesin no know anything...

Godyke:
Unfortunately they did not address the issue of the specifications of how a standard school should be setup and as well as high school fees charged by these private schools. Some of these schools just set up their schools anywhere and anyhow without consideration to safety, space, ventilation, distraction, locations, hygiene, and conduciveness of the environment for sports and other extracurricular activities that make learning complete. And above all the school fees are too exorbitant for the common men who would want to patronize.

Yiu want a private school to provide all those amenities and not charge exorbitantly vv

dejonathan:
No jobs created
Na goat go dey teach for the schools??
Abi teaching is no more an employment?

Do you want us to take a poll and see how many graduates have no jobs?

nairalee:
I laugh.... In other states of Nigeria, establishing a private school is just like opening a business Centre.

You just get rooms, board, chair, teacher and you're good to go.

If it blossoms after some years then you can now contemplate registering with the authorities

.
.
.
The big question right now is where is the land space for these schools? Lagos is a small state that has been filled with congestion everyday people are moving into Lagos for greener pasture...
Lol, I even plan to move to Lagos too to continue my job hunting! hehehe

It's an admittance of government incapacity to manage education. Unfortunately the incapacity gap cannot be filled by the business men who are busy destroying every fabric of ideal education.
Putting a child in a private school these days is worse than a public school. Those who have experienced it can testify.