The Lagos State government has set August 10 as deadline for an emergency registration exercise of all private schools in the state.
The exercise, which began last Wednesday, is free and compulsory, and will continue in all the six education districts in the state until the deadline.
The deputy governor of the state and head of the Ministry of Education, Dr Idiat Adebule, who announced this at a press conference in her office last week, said there schools that fail to take part in the process would be penalised.
“In line with the pursuit of the state government to ensure the delivery of high quality education to all pupils and students in the state, it has become imperative to direct all proprietors of private schools in the state, irrespective of their accreditation status, to register their educational institutions at the education district within their area of operation within two weeks,” Dr Adebule said.
She, however, stated that the exercise was not intended to victimise any school, but to provide a comprehensive database for the government, and to ensure that the standard of learning and the learning environment are “in tandem with the vision of the state for the future of the students.”
“This process has been designed to eliminate touts and middlemen who exploit them and make the accreditation process cumbersome. I must warn that should any school refuse to register, it would be deemed to harbour ulterior motives, and our enforcement agents will sanction them as appropriate,” she warned.