A total of 115 fresh private schools have been registered and given certificates of accreditation by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA).
While additional 60 schools were inspected for commencement of academic activities for approval to operate, 117 private and public schools were screened in readiness for accreditation in 2017.
Acting secretary for education, FCTA, Musa Yakubu, disclosed this in Abuja where he stated that 556 illegal and sub-standard private schools were shut this year.
He noted that the team from Department of Quality Assurance found schools located on flood plains, right in the middle of markets and next to drinking parlours and brothels in the territory.
According to him, despite the fact that the team found schools located right on top of dump sites with inappropriate physical structures, it met some measure of resistance from proprietors of the illegal structures while trying to shut them down.
Yakubu, however, insisted that the administration would continue to remain undeterred in its quest to ensure that only duly-registered and accredited schools were allowed to operate in the territory.
He pleaded with parents to be more discerning when choosing private schools for their children and wards.
He said, “A school is not a good school simply because it is labelled private. Unfortunately, parents tend to learn these lessons the hard way.
“You may recall that a little boy lost his life recently when a school which had been shut down and was illegally reopened collapsed. The irony of it, however, is that less than 200 metres away was a fully-functional public primary school.
“Some good came out of this exercise because the populace has become more aware and we observed that shortly after the closure of these illegal schools in the FCT, not fewer than eight states also held a similar exercise. In fact, a neighbouring state came around to study our operational methods
“The FCT administration believes that education is an indelible right of every child. Encouraging children to attend school is therefore a part of its mandate.
“It is however not unaware that there are children in the society who for some inexplicable reasons such as lack of resources cannot attend school.
“The FCT Education assistance scheme managed by the FCT Scholarship Board is designed to ensure that no child falls through the gaps and misses out on accessing good quality education
“The 2016 FCT budget was passed in the last quarter of the year. While this has affected our scholarship disbursement schedule for the year, plans have been concluded by the Board to commence disbursement as soon as all modalities are concluded.”