A don, Prof. Charles Eze, has urged government at all levels to take stringent measures that will halt proliferation of private sub-standard schools with unqualified teachers.
Eze, who is the Director, General Studies Division of Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Agbani, made the call while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Enugu.
According to him, sub-standard private schools are springing up in their hundreds yearly because school establishment is the quickest growing business across the country.
The professor of Science Education argued that most of the proprietors of these schools are only motivated by profit rather than genuine desire to impart knowledge on the young ones.
“Today, as we are observing, opening a private school is the fastest way of establishing a business, which most of the proprietors’ intention is purely to maximise 100 per cent profit.
“Once one gets a space of land and constructs a wooden structure or manages to rent a flat apartment, an international private school comes on stream with few quack teachers to roll on the business.
“Before you know it, parents considering proximity and deceitful claims of these proprietors, children from the neighbourhood flood the school,’’ he said.
The don noted that the pathetic aspect that these sub-standard private schools are currently charge cut-throat fees not measurable to the quality of educational output on these children.
Eze also advised parents to take pains in identifying the suitable private schools for their wards, stressing that proximity should not be the only factor to consider in selecting schools for their wards.
“Any school without enough space for the children to move around or even exercise themselves during playtime or break should not be subscribed to.
“Any private school with high shortfall of teaching staff; no instructional materials; situated within a residential building is never a school.
“Any private school you go to without sighting the approval and licensing certificate clearly hung for all to see; sincerely such private school have a question mark,’’ he said.
The don urged the ministries of education to join forces with the Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria (TRCN) to clamp down on unqualified teachers providing cheap labour for the proprietors of sub-standard schools.
“These people parading themselves as proprietors do not have the interest of education being a service to humanity in their agenda,’’ he added.