- NAPPS Begs Govt To Be Slow, Reduce Multiple Taxes
By Amos Aar
AS PART of preparations towards the planned shutting down of 2,416 unapproved schools and demolition of substandard structures of some others across the state, the Benue State Education Quality Assurance Agency (BEQA) has called on parents to withdraw their children from such schools as it has given proprietors of such schools to present their building plans to the state Urban Development Board for integrity test from now to September 2024.
BEQA Director General (DG), Dr Terna Francis, stated this while briefing journalists at the end of a meeting held on Tuesday in his office to that effect with stakeholders in education, security formations, community leaders and civil society organisations.
“The first step towards correcting this is to invite stakeholders and sensitise them, make them see the need why they should adhere strictly to building plans that are in conformity with the standards that have been established.
“Those of them that are operating in such structures should move to better structures. We are not going to demolish now, now, now, we want to give them time to be able to move so that at the end of the day, we don’t lose any life.
“As it is now, we have identified 2,416 schools that do not have the approval of the Benue State government to operate in the state and we have only cleared one hundred and fifty (150) complete clearance that they have the clearance of urban development board and clearance of the board of internal revenue and they have the certificate of quality assurance and we have given them certificate of consent.
He also disclosed that BEQA would soon launch an investigation into how some schools got approval before now despite obvious substandard.
“There are schools that got approval from the backdoor before now that are operating. You will go to a school and you will discover that in one room space, there are three classes; there is basic 1 facing opposite direction, basic 2 facing the other side and basic 3.
“We have those structures that are looking like poultry farms and those people have approval. In fact, we want to launch a probe into how they were able to get approvals to operate with those kinds of structures”, the DG stated.
He said the names of both approved and unapproved schools are accessible via beqa.be.gov.ng.
Also speaking with journalists at the end of the meeting, national chairman, National Association of Proprietors Private Schools (NAPPS), Hon. S. A. Ojo Sunday Adah, appealed to the government to take the decision of closure/emolition gradually, pointing out that schools take time to mature even as he agreed with the government on substandard of some schools, stressing the need to step up standards.
He also appealed to Governor Hyacinth Alia to extend his free WAEC and NECO registration declared for public schools to private schools in the interest of the Benue child, arguing that the population of private schools is more than that of government schools.
“On the issue of standard, we agree with government that schools’ standards should be stepped up and we are going to talk to our members to run the schools based on the precepts of developing educational standards as contained in our national curriculum.
“We also complained about multiple taxations; we have the annual tuition which they collect N50,000, we have registration of business premises which the ministry of commerce and industry collects, we have tenement rate collected by the government.
“So, by the time we put it together, a school pays minimum of N500,000 in an academic session and all of them have one source, all of these taxes are going to one government source. So, we are saying that government should review it.
“We went to the State House of Assembly and they are looking at it. All schools are not of equal standards. We have schools based in urban areas; we have schools based in rural areas. So, when you generalize the tax, the schools in rural areas will suffer and we have seen they are suffering.
“There are areas that government cannot put up a structure, it is private schools that are managing education at that sector.
“We want to use this opportunity to appeal to the governor of Benue State, that he came up with a very fine policy of registering the Benue child for WAEC and NECO. But to our surprise, this gesture was withdrawn from primary schools and we ask, is the governor not recognising the Benue child especially thousands of them that are in the private sector? Because we have more students in the private sector than government sector.
For instance, look at Okpokwu local government, government schools are just three, grant-aided schools are ten or fifteen while private schools are thirty-five (35).
“So, we want to appeal to the governor of Benue State that even if they cannot register for every Benue child, they should subsidise for those of us in the private sector. That is how we will see that he is reciprocating for what we are paying,” the president appealed.
As schools are warming up to reopen in September, the NAPPS chairman called on proprietors to withdraw learners from dilapidated schools that have cracks that pose danger to occupants and asked the state government to extend the measure to public schools, saying: “let the searchlight not be on private schools alone.”
