ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
Bayelsa State government says it has uncovered 12 unapproved private schools out of the 112 in operation in the state.
It noted that it was doing all it could to improve the standard of education by ensuring that illegal academic institutions were weeded out of the state.
The Commissioner for Education, Dr. Gentle Emelah, revealed this on Thursday at a press conference in Yenagoa to herald the 2022 Bayelsa State Education Summit.
He said it was the right of parents to decide if their children should attend private or public schools.
He, however, wondered why parents preferred ill-equipped private schools with poorly trained teachers to public schools that have better trained teachers and well equiped with modern teaching tools.
While highlighting the various achievements of the government in the education sector in the past 24 years of the state’s creation, Emelah said the state had built 547 primary schools, 195 secondary schools and nine tertiary institutions, all of which are funded by the state.
He further said that in 2021, the government prioritized the accreditation of the programmes run at the state-owned tertiary institutions, and achieved accreditation for all the tertiary institutions.
The commissioner said: “These strides are attributable to the several thousands of dedicated teachers, principals, administrators and officers and staff at the ministry, both past and present. Within same year, the ministry embarked on two inspection tours of primary and secondary schools across the state.
“We synchronized our findings with the content of our Annual Schools Census reports of very recent years with regard to the infrastructural needs in schools, availability and quality of teachers, general enrollment numbers and transition rates from primary to secondary schools.
“Laudable as our achievements may sound, it is now clear that the substructure of the education sector which lies in the plans, policies for pedagogical engagement and strategies of government would require proper evaluation and overhauling to meet the needs of the 21st century society.
“We are aware that this paradigm shift would require the expertise of individuals, educationists, civil society organizations, institutions at the national and global levels to provide support and guidance for partnerships and collaborations towards achieving the much greater goal of providing quality, affordable and sustainable education.”
To this end, Emelah said the government would organize a State Education Summit which is scheduled to hold from 7th to 10th February, 2022, to produce forward looking ideas and vision for the next 15 years in a relatable education plan and policy.
He said former President Goodluck Jonathan would present the keynote for the summit.