Lagos warns private schools not resume third term via online teaching

The Lagos State Government has warned private school owners against resuming academic activities for the 2019/2020 session third term via online teaching.

The Commissioner for Education, Folasade Adefisayo, on Sunday said all schools in Lagos State remained closed and had not yet been opened for the third term.

She said: “The State is presently on lockdown imposed by the Federal Government over the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most schools are charging for this online service; often at a discount on existing tuition fees while some schools are charging full fees.

“Parents are concerned about the cost of this programme, ranging from fees charged by schools to cost of data and devices as well as the cost of fuelling generators to ensure steady electricity power supply.

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“Parents also have to supervise online teachings to guard against the exposure of children to pornography, in addition to online harassment and bullying.”

Also the Federal Ministry of Education has urged parents to disregard the fake news being circulated on social media on the reopening of schools in November.

A statement signed by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr Ben Goong, on Wednesday in Abuja, said the fake news originated from “an illiterate.”

“The ministry is asking parents, students and the general public to disregard the release in its entirety.

“There is no iota of truth about the release. Efforts are on to track the author, and if found to be a normal human being, he or she will be prosecuted.

“For now, everything about the release points to a mental lunatic.

“The ministry will no longer take such information for granted especially when it posses the capacity to mislead a large number of innocent Nigerians.”

Schools have been closed down nationwide as part of measures to prevent the spread of Coronavirus.

Moreso the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools, (NAPPS), Oyo State, has called on the Federal and State Governments to provide them palliatives to survive the effect of the COVID-19 lockdown.

The President of the association, Mr Kayode Adeyemi said in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Ibadan that the call had become necessary as its members were worst hit by the lockdown.

Adeyemi noted that the impact of the lockdown could not be quantified as it had a debilitating impact on private schools operators.

“On school operations, quite a number of our members find it difficult to even pay March salary because of the abrupt end of the term.

“Only a few of the schools will be able to pay salaries for March and even April. 

“The larger percentage of operators are looking forward to the end of March and examination period to be able to get school fees to pay March salary and strategise for April. 

“But because the schools were closed abruptly and examinations not conducted, they were unable to get the larger chunk of the fees.

“So, the majority of the schools just closed down trying to find a way of giving the teachers what is available,’’ Adeyemi said.

He noted that the current situation had not only affected school proprietors but their families and those who depend on them for a living.

Adeyemi said contrary to belief that schools operators were billionaires, they need government to provide them with palliatives as it was doing for other sectors like agriculture.

“Unless the government comes out with palliatives to help private schools survive the lockdown and post COVID-19, the possibility of retrenchment is inevitable as we may have to reduce staff strength to be able to cope.

“We will be resuming school with students whose parents faced the difficulty of survival or whose parents are out of jobs because of the COVID-19 lockdown. 

“Even on the outstanding school fees, we will be greeted with various excuses as to why they cannot pay. 

“Some parents may even withdraw their children from private to public schools because of school fees. 

“Those are the issues we foresee and we will need a level of wisdom and restraint to be able to manage the atmosphere when school resumes and how we will continue to pay workers salaries if we are out of this lockdown.’’

The NAPPS president further said provision of soft loans, a single digit loan by the government for its members would go a long way to cushion effect of the pandemic. 

“Our source of income has been affected by the closure of schools.

“It is painful that when the government is looking for money, the private schools are taxed but when it comes to palliatives they exclude us with the excuse that we are not in the agricultural sector or small and medium enterprises,’’ he lamented