Stop playing with lives of our children, parents warn govt

From Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure

National Parents Teachers Association of Nigeria (NAPTAN), umbrella body of parents of all public and private primary and secondary school students in the country, has called for an immediate review of all the programmes of the federal and state governments regarding security of their children in school, warning government against playing with the lives of their children.

Specifically, the association berated the closure of some unity schools as a result of threat of attack by bandits and called on government to proffer permanent solution to banditry rather than closing schools.

National President, Alhaji Haruna Danjuma, in a statement by the National Publicity Secretary, Dr. Ademola Ekundayo, bemoaned the way the Federal Government has handled the security of students in recent times.

To this end, the association called for an urgent dialogue with the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, to find a lasting solution to the security challenges confronting the education sector, especially secondary schools.

The dialogue, the association, said should involve all the stakeholders in the education sector, including heads of all academic institutions, principals of secondary schools, representatives of NAPTAN, selected traditional rulers and security agents.

The association expressed optimism that such dialogue would proffer necessary solutions to the security challenges confronting schools, especially kidnapping and killing of innocent students.

Reacting to the recent abduction of some school children in Niger and Kebbi states, NAPTAN made a case for stiffer security measures to be put in place in all public and private schools across the country, stressing that the issue of security should be taken with all seriousness by the government. Also, the association called on the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on security and deploy security personnel to all the schools in the country in order to guarantee the protection of lives of their children. The parents body advised all parents to be conscious of the security of their children and not leave it to the government alone.