Nasarawa SUBEB seeks power to regulate private schools

The Chairman of the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Dr Kassim Mohamed, has called for legislative backing to enable the board to regulate the establishment and operations of private primary schools in the state, particularly those operating from converted residential buildings.

Mohamed said the absence of adequate regulatory powers had allowed individuals to establish substandard private schools without proper monitoring, a development he said was creating challenges for public schools, particularly in areas bordering the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

The SUBEB chairman made this known in an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, on the sidelines of the 12th Annual Training Workshop for Public Relations and Information Officers of the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) and State Universal Basic Education Boards (SUBEBs), in Keffi, Nasarawa State.

He disclosed that he had approached the Nasarawa State House of Assembly to seek autonomy for the board to regulate the establishment and operations of private primary schools.

According to him, the situation is particularly concerning at Karu, where some individuals convert their residential buildings into schools without adequate oversight.

He explained that the proliferation of such schools had also created opportunities for the illegal sale of public school furniture, textbooks and other instructional materials to private school operators.

“We have also registered that complaint before the Commissioner of Police and all the security agencies for assistance. We discovered that some of our own teachers are selling these chairs to private schools.

“By the time we have the autonomy to regulate the activities of private schools, we will then be able to monitor and see what is happening in most of these schools,” he said.

Mohamed also advocated a minimum distance of two kilometres between schools to address the proliferation of private schools and prevent teachers from simultaneously working in public schools and multiple private institutions at the same time.

ALSO READ: Taxation, tool for building responsible citizens — Gov Abdulrazaq

On efforts to address teacher shortages, the chairman disclosed that the board had identified between 2,000 and 3,000 teachers, who had abandoned classroom duties for administrative offices.

He said a committee set up by the board had addressed the situation, resulting in the redeployment of the affected teachers to their respective schools.

Mohamed added that the state had also recruited more than 1,000 teachers, with plans to deploy them to schools after completing their documentation.

The SUBEB chairman further identified teachers’ indebtedness as another challenge affecting effective service delivery, explaining that excessive loan deductions had left some teachers with insufficient funds to meet their transportation costs to work.

He said the board had consequently suspended teachers’ access to loans for six months to enable them to repay existing debts before considering further borrowing arrangements.

“We have stopped that for the period of six months to enable them to pay back those loans before we can agree on whether they are to take loans or have just within themselves to see how they can be contributing monthly,” he said.

Earlier, Mohamed described the training workshop as part of UBEC’s regular capacity-building efforts to strengthen personnel management and improve the effectiveness of public relations and information officers across the education sector.

He commended UBEC for choosing Nasarawa State to host the programme and urged participants to take advantage of the training to improve their professional capacity and contribute to the development of basic education in their respective states.