By Stephen Adeleye.
Mrs Rosemary Osikoya, Kogi Commissioner of Education, Science and Technology, says the State Government has begun identification of schools that are below the minimum required standard for operation across the state.
Osikoya made this disclosure after a review meeting she held with Area Education Evaluators (AEEs) in her office in Lokoja.
She said that the ministry had sent out AEEs across the 21 local government areas of the state to identify and mark all schools that were yet to meet the minimum requirements for operations.
“All schools that are marked are the ones that have quality issues to reconcile with the ministry and parents who have children in such schools should show concern.
“If a school is marked, and all the quality issues faced were eventually addressed, then the mark would be removed and the school can begin to operate.
“But by the end of the stipulated period, if such marked school has not addressed these quality issues, it will get a second marking that tells you whether or not such a school can operate.
“What we are doing now is very important to us because we don’t want anybody to be punished unintentionally.
“This is giving room for all stakeholders to comply with the process to ensure quality standard in our schools,” she said.
The commissioner noted that the ministry had compared the federal policy with the existing state policy and found that in many cases, the state’s existing policy was very conservative.
She said that the ministry had produced policy document which was the standard assessment sheet, in line with the federal policy directive.
She said the ministry had also sensitised, trained and equipped all school managers in both public and private schools in the state to ensure a smooth process.
“At the end of this exercise, schools would be graded in three categories: those that are healthy and meet the minimum requirements would be certified to operate.
“Schools that are striving to meet the minimum requirements, would be encouraged and given provisional licenses, with time frame, while those not supposed to operate would be closed down.
“This will also help the ministry to ascertain how well the state is complying with the federal government’s directive,” Osikoya said.
She emphasised that the process would continue till the end of October, to enable those who were yet to meet the minimum condition to do the needful.
“We hope before the end of December, we should be able to complete all of these processes, and all schools that absolutely can not operate at all, would be excused.
“So, whatever be the outcome of this exercise, would be published for everybody to see in the next couple of weeks.
“So, if parents have children in such schools, they should be interested in knowing whether that school has commensurate standard and good enough for their child.
“We want to ensure that every child in the state has access to minimum quality standard education,” she said.
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