The founding chairman of Exams Ethics Marshals International, Ike Onyechere, says the regulatory oversight of private schools in Nigeria has been compromised.

Mr Onyechere disclosed on the sidelines of a meeting with the management of Methodist High School, Aba, Abia.

“The entrance of all classes of people into the establishment of schools in Nigeria has become a major source of challenge in its education sector. All sorts of people who come into money by all sorts of means appear to conclude that establishing a school is the easiest way of laundering money or of making easy money.

“Although many of such people know nothing about running schools, they establish private schools and the result is what we are seeing today – all sorts of things that they call schools,” he said.

Mr Onyechere said that there is a need to re-evaluate the criteria for establishing private schools, which makes it easy for school owners to operate below standards. He said the government had been focusing on sanitising public schools, improving their infrastructure, facilities, and human resource assets, but neglecting the structure and running of private schools.

“You know that some of these schools don’t have qualified teachers, not to talk of professional teachers; some use school certificate holders to teach in secondary schools. Are we talking about some proprietors who are illiterates, some have no security infrastructure, and many operate in bedrooms instead of purpose-designed classrooms?” he said.

Mr Onyechere said if the government were regulating banking, insurance, and other sectors, there was a need to properly regulate a sector that is pivotal to national development.

He urged wealthy Nigerians who wanted to contribute to Nigeria’s educational development to emulate the actions of wealthy individuals in the West who invest in already established public schools to improve them.

(NAN)