The Plateau State Government declared its commitment to enhancing the quality of education and its potential benefits for its citizens. In this regard, it has pledged to crack down on illegal private schools that undermine these objectives.
The State Commissioner for Education (Secondary), Mohammed Nyalum, made this announcement during a press conference in Jos on Wednesday.
He expressed apprehension about the proliferation of unregistered private schools within the state, highlighting that many of these institutions obscure their locations to avoid routine inspections by the Ministry’s quality assurance officials.
Furthermore, Nyalum noted that several schools that had previously received licenses from the Ministry had compromised their standards or had not strictly adhered to the government’s policies and guidelines for establishing private schools.
He added, “By this sad development, the government, through the Ministry of Education, is putting modalities in place to publish a list of schools that have been cleared to operate in the state.
“Towards this end, all private schools that had initially been issued with operating licence (s) are to pay annual renewal fees to date. Schools with old approval should come to the ministry for a new licence.
“All schools without approval should come to the ministry for proper documentation and follow the procedures for school establishment. For schools that have purchased establishment forms and refused to continue with the process of registration, the firm’s becomes invalid after two years from the date it was purchased.
“We will start the verification and it will be two weeks commencing from November 13-24, 2023 at the Ministry of Education headquarters, Jos. After the expiration of the two weeks, the ministry will have no option but to move out for defaulters on all illegal private schools without licence from the government.”
The commissioner, who called on the private schools to comply with the directive, added, “The present administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang has put all mechanism in place to reposition the standard of education at all levels in the state.”
