Plateau State Government on Wednesday said that plans were ongoing to improve the quality of education and its potential impacts on the citizens, even as it vowed to clamp down on illegal private schools which undermine the objectives.
The state Commissioner for Education (Secondary), Mohammed Nyalum, stated this while addressing a press conference in Jos on Wednesday.
The commissioner expressed concern over the proliferation of unregistered private schools in the state, noting that many of them hide their locations in order to circumvent the routine inspection by the quality assurance officials of the ministry.
He noted that many others earlier granted licences by the ministry had compromised their standard while others did not adhere strictly to the government policies and guidelines for the establishment of private schools
He added, “By this sad development, the government, through the Ministry of Education, is putting modalities in place to publish a list of schools that have been cleared to operate in the state.
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“Towards this end, all private schools that had initially been issued with operating licence (s) are to pay annual renewal fees to date. Schools with old approval should come to the ministry for a new licence.
“All schools without approval should come to the ministry for proper documentation and follow the procedures for school establishment. For schools that have purchased establishment forms and refused to continue with the process of registration, the firm’s becomes invalid after two years from the date it was purchased.
“We will start the verification and it will be two weeks commencing from November 13-24, 2023 at the Ministry of Education headquarters, Jos. After the expiration of the two weeks, the ministry will have no option but to move out for defaulters on all illegal private schools without licence from the government.”
The commissioner, who called on the private schools to comply with the directive, added, “The present administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang has put all mechanism in place to reposition the standard of education at all levels in the state.”
