80% of private schools in Nigeria do not deserve licence —NGO

Eighty per cent of private schools in the country do not deserve to be licensed, says Mr Ike Onyechere, Chairman, Exam Ethics Marshal International (EEMI).

Onyechere said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), on Monday, in Abuja, that most private schools operate without adequate facilities and structures.

According to him, such schools posed a threat to the lives of students and pupils enrolled in them.

“Eighty per cent of the private schools in this country are not supposed to be licensed as schools, based on the place they are located, their surroundings and their safety and security environments.

“For example, you find schools that are even near the markets and they are licensed by someone; there are some boarding schools that are near night clubs.

“Others are at traffic junctions, where they are at risk of accidents and some located in flood-prone areas and that is dangerous.’’

He urged parents to be security conscious, when enrolling their wards in schools, adding that the location and security facilities should be considered.

“There are a lot of security issues; one of the areas of focus is addressing it, to raise the consciousness of Parent Teachers Association (PTA) that they have a serious responsibility, to look into the situation of schools their children attend.

“Parents should also invest in securing the schools their wards attend, to prevent attack rather than spending huge amounts of money for ransom, when your child is kidnapped.’’

Onyechere also advised head teachers and principals of public schools, to take the necessary measures to protect their schools and not leave everything to the government.

He added that, there was a limit to what the government could.

He noted that, some boarding schools that have no perimeter fence and those with porous fence, were prone to attack gunmen and other unscrupulous people with sinister motives.