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From Scholastica Hir, Makurdi
The Benue Education Quality Assurance and Examinations Board (BEQAEB), has sealed Orenda and Opal Schools over alleged victimisation of learners and violation of the Benue State Government’s policy on textbook purchase and reuse.
The Executive Secretary of BEQAEB, Dr. Terna Francis, led officials of the Board’s Directorate of Enforcement and Compliance to the schools, where a court order authorising the sealing of the premises was served on the proprietor before the facilities were locked.
The Executive Secretary expressed concern that, despite repeated sensitisation and directives by the Benue State Government, through the Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management and BEQAEB, some school proprietors continued to disregard established policies designed to protect parents and learners from unnecessary financial burdens and unfair treatment.
Francis explained that the government’s textbook policy allows parents to reuse textbooks by passing them from older children to their younger siblings. Parents are also permitted to obtain textbook lists from schools and purchase the required books from bookstores outside the schools.
He stated that the affected schools insisted that learners purchase textbooks directly from them, contrary to the government’s policy.
More concerning, he said, were reports that some learners whose parents had paid their school fees but could not purchase the prescribed textbooks were subjected to punitive treatment, including having their homework left unmarked.
The parent-petitioners further alleged that parents who had already purchased the prescribed textbooks from external bookstores and appealed to the school management to allow their children to use them for the current academic session were dismissed.
According to the complaints, the management insisted that the parents either purchase new textbooks directly from the schools or withdraw their children and enrol them elsewhere.
The parents also reported that textbooks purchased outside the schools were not permitted in classrooms, leaving some learners demoralized and withdrawn.
Dr. Francis described the alleged practices as unacceptable and inconsistent with the protection of learners’ rights and welfare under applicable laws in Benue State and Nigeria.
