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Okey Sampson, Umuahia
Abia Government plans to shutdown substandard private schools, Commissioner for Education, Dr. Kanelechi Nwangwa, has said.
He said the minimum standard for establishment of a primary school in the state were four plots of land, at least three classrooms with a dimension of 9m x 12m, administrative block, reading room/library, basic health scheme, toilet facilities, with N3 million bank deposit.
He said schools in residential buildings, warehouses, church halls, village/town halls and make-shifts places that fail to met the requirement would be shut down.
Nwangwa said the exercise had the backing of the law.
“We have warned parents to take away their children from those schools that have no addresses, but they want them to remain there because they are giving them unmerited grades and pushing them to the next level,” he said.
It was learnt that the government’s decision has thrown parents and guardians off balance as many of them believe the timing was wrong since it was done at the middle of the academic year (second term).
One of the parents said changing schools for his five children this January assuming their school would be affected by the government’s clampdown would be a Herculean task. He urged the state’s Ministry of Education to reconsider its decision and carry out the exercise in September.
Other parents said most of them travelled for Christmas and New Year and as such, it would be difficult for them to start arranging for new schools for their children and wards.
Dr. Nwangwa said government shifted the reopening of schools from January 6 to 13 so that those who went for Christmas will come back and have the time to put their children in other schools.
