Delta Govt Threatens to Sanction Illegal Private Schools

Delta State Government has threatened to close down all identified illegal private schools throughout the state

The state Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Chief Patrick Ukah, disclosed this in Asaba on Thursday when he played host to members of Private Schools Owners of Nigeria (APSON) paid him a courtesy call.

He said the Inspectorate Department of the ministry was set to embark on the closure of private schools that have not completed their registration processes that would qualify them to operate in the market.

All private schools that have provisional approvals to operate and are still in default of the registration requirements two years after getting the provisional approvals will be shut down, Ukah warned.

He frowned at the reported practice by some private schools to promote all their students to the next class at the end of every academic session, cautioning that such action was not in the best interest of the children who failed their promotion examination.

Earlier, the state Chairman of APSON, Keno Emiaso, told the commissioner that the association has maintained cordial relationship with the ministry since its inception, and restated their resolve to further strengthen the harmonious relationship with the ministry in improving the educational standard in the state.

In another development, the commissioner also received members of Polaris Care Foundation led by its National Coordinator, Mr. Emmanuel Utomi, represented by the Deputy State Coordinator, Mrs. Ngozi Adigwe Diayi.

In his address, Utomi said it was no longer news that the rate youths and teenagers engage in cultism and drug abuse is on the increase, which could spell doom for the next generation if not checked by relevant authorities, concerned groups and individuals.

“It is in the spirit of fighting this menace that the club is planning to organise a sensitisation campaign in primary and secondary schools in the state through sports and other forms of events such as quiz, debate, health talk, documentary and jingles,” he revealed.