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From Uchenna Inya, Abakaliki
The Ebonyi State government has closed a total of 3,200 illegal schools across the state.
Commissioner for Education in the state, Dr. Donatus Ilang, who made the disclosure in Abakaliki, the state capital, yesterday, said the schools were operating under the tree, uncompleted building, and other non-conducive environments for teaching and learning.
He said the government has set up a surveillance team to monitor the closed schools and ensure that their operators don’t re-open them after the closure. Ilang opined that the closure of illegal and unapproved schools in the state has elevated educational standards in the state.
“Before now, you will see people prioritise what I can call mushroom schools, and it is not even school because they don’t have school structures. Somebody who is operating under the tree and said he has school, is it what you call school? Somebody who is using one of his rooms in his apartment as a school, uncompleted building.
“Away from this, you will see that their teachers have nothing to write home about. Some of them are primary and secondary school leavers teaching in those illegal structures they are calling schools.
“There are laid down rules for the establishment of schools backed by Law.008 of 2018 in the state.
“Before you establish any school, you must get what is called site approval, and that site approval certifies the number of plots for you to establish a school.
“But people will stay in a room, in the church, an uncompleted building, and under the tree and call it a school. We have closed 3,200 of them”, he said.
