The private school owners in the country have called on governments at all levels to treat them as partners in progress rather than using them to boost their internally generated revenues.
They also urged the government to be livelier in their roles of protecting the lives and property of citizens including students and school workers.
The National President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Yomi Otubela, made this call on Sunday in a message to commemorate this year’s Workers’ Day.
He said the government should know that the rising inflation in the country has pushed up astronomically the cost of running schools to the extent of making the situation unbearable to many school owners.
He said apart from being charged multiple taxes and all manner of levies by various levels of government and also borrowing money at high-interest rates from banks, private schools are yet to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic which shut them out of operations for about a year.
He said in view of these among other reasons, both the states and federal governments ought to set aside a certain percentage of their annual budgets to serve as free interest loans and grants for private schools since they are helping the government to provide education to citizens which is the primary responsibility of governments.
He also asked the government to beef up security not only in and around schools but in other places nationwide.
Otubela, while equally appealing to the government to find workable and lasting solutions that will bring about uninterrupted operations in public schools, especially at the tertiary level, he likewise urged NAPPS members to review the terms of employment and conditions of their workers to strike the balance as necessitated by the economic reality of the country.
He said workers would need to be motivated well to be able to perform optimally in their respective roles.
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