By Favour Percy-Idubor/Benin
Private school owners in Edo State under the aegis of the Coalition of Association of Private Schools (CAPS), have faulted the government directives on the transition from formal to skills education.
The group said the academic transition cannot be a directive, but a continuous engagement with private stakeholders who are hosts in the education sector.
According to the school owners “we know that it is the right of the government to provide a policy framework, we are also aware that constitutionally, it is the responsibility of the government to provide an enabling environment for such policy to thrive.”
This was part of the position canvassed during a one-day consultative town hall meeting of the association, geared to articulate a unified position on the recent education policies introduced by the Edo State Ministry of Education.
The group comprises several educational bodies, including, Association of Private School Owners of Nigeria (APSON), Association for Formidable Education Development (AFED), National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), and the Association of Model Islamic Schools. The Edo government skill education directive focuses on equipping students with practical skills and mandatory entrepreneurship training for Junior Secondary School (JSS 3), culminating in a Skills Acquisition Certificate, alongside their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) certificate.
The State Controller of AFED, Dr. OsagieErhunmwunse, who spoke on behalf of the private schools coalition, said no policy is a policy until it passes the three critical tests of policy: objectivity, inclusivity, and practicality.
Erhunmwunse added: “What that means is, for you to make a policy, you have to realise that you are not serving one sector of society. You need everybody on board.
”The government has to sit down and come out with a workability of the project (skill education).
”How do we move from formal to skill? It can’t be said to be a directive by saying go and do this. No! What is the support to help us transit? Those are part of the engagement.”
”Just like you all heard of the education policy, that is how private school owners association leaders woke up to see it.
”We cannot just be invited to come and be implementing what we were not part of in the first place,” he stated.
On her part, the chairman of APSON, Dr. Ngozi Christy Emuen, decried what she described as government excessive taxes of private schools.
She stated that private schools pay about nine different levies, including fumigation fees, adding that 10 proprietors have so far put up their schools for sale.
