Residents of Ibadan have decried the rate at which mushroom schools are springing up in neighbourhoods across the Oyo State capital in defiance of government’s efforts to get rid of such sub-standard schools.
Investigations by our correspondent, who visited Ibadan, revealed that many of these private schools now operate without names or any signpost in order to beat government officials charged with monitoring them.
Also, the buildings of these substandard schools, it was discovered, are actually the residential houses of the owners, which also often function as churches at weekends and other times. Sometimes, they serve as tutorial centres. The rooms are partitioned into what could, at best, be described as cubicles and the pupils are crammed into the small space to receive lessons.
A resident of Alesinloye area in Ibadan, Mr. Waliu Kareem, noted that he had been a landlord in the area for five years within which the number of the mushroom schools operating in the community, without government approval, had risen to over 50.
He added that in most of these schools, “students are required to bring N20 to school every Monday for chalk and another N20 to be paid for extra lesson. Four textbooks are required and most times, no single student has those textbooks. They pay N1,500 for English studies, Yoruba, N600; Quantitative reasoning and Verbal reasoning is N1,000, Handwork, N260; and Examination/PTA Levy is N700.”
Kareem claimed that the schools even offered ICT as one of their teaching subjects with the proprietor using his personal tablets to teach the pupils, in turns, how to type characters.
“We have heard of cases of substandard schools in neighbouring states like Lagos and Ogun, but I am very sure that what we have here in Oyo State is far above a sorry situation. Although, most times, when I see the pupils that attend the schools, I know that their parents may be financially handicapped to send them to good schools because they are always in tattered uniforms with ringworms on their heads. But I feel government should check the activities of these mushroom schools before it gets out of hand,”
he added.
A civil servant in the Dugbe area, while pleading anonymity, said, “The establishment of substandard schools in our suburbs is becoming very worrisome to us as these schools have taken over the entire neighbourhood. The most annoying thing is that they don’t occupy more than a three-bedroom flat. They hold morning assembly in the sitting room area, which also serves as the principal’s office and general waiting place.
“When the students are on break, they play in the corridor in front of the school. How can people send their wards to schools like that when there are government owned schools? It’s high time the government put an end to these so that we won’t have a complete breakdown in the education sector.”
A single mother, who is also a teacher, Ugochi (other name withheld) said that two years ago, her two children attended a substandard school due to the financial constraints she had at that period.
We have heard of cases of substandard schools in neighbouring states like Lagos and Ogun, but I am very sure that what we have here in Oyo State is far above a sorry situation
She, however, said she noted that during this period, the academic performance of her children nosedived drastically as they had no access to learning materials or facilities.
She added that they could not even speak passable English until when she secured a job with a private school six months ago and had to take her children to a government approved school.
Ugochi blamed landlords, who let out their property to the operators because of pecuniary interests, for the prevalence of such substandard schools in the city.
The President of the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, Mr. Yomi Otubela, said that the association lacked the powers to stop the proprietors of such mushroom schools, without the backing of the government.
Otubela said, “Supervision is government’s responsibility; we only liaise between government and our members to follow government’s policy on education. We intimate our members on new policy methods in the country and advise them on what to do, but we can’t force things, if government isn’t doing its part. There are laid down procedures to follow before any school can be registered and you must satisfy at least 70 per cent before your school can be registered. The Ministry of Education is responsible for monitoring and inspecting the quality of schools, not us.
“Anyone can join the association, once you have a school. But we believe you must have been approved before joining. Sadly, some owners just put ‘Government Approved’ to deceive people and when officials come around, they ‘settle’ them. When we ask for their approval letter, they claim they are processing it. Some cannot even run primary schools properly, but before you know it, they have opened a secondary school as well.
“The government has a huge role to play in helping us close down these substandard schools. Unfortunately, many government officials have been compromised. It is not my duty to close these schools or call them to order. It is the duty of the government.
Most of these schools employ school certificate holders as teachers, what do you want these children to know? We have been calling on the government to help us get rid of these fake schools to no avail. Parents complain that our fees are too high and so they take their kids to these cheaper, substandard schools, believing they are better than government schools. That is what is killing our educational standard in Nigeria
today.”
