Over 2000 private schools in FCT are low cost- NAPPS President
By Abuja Reporter
The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) FCT chapter, has disclosed that over 2,000 out of 3,000 private schools in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are still low cost schools.
Mrs Olusola Bankole, President of NAPPS disclosed this on Thursday in Abuja at the 2022 Conference on Low Cost Education and Reform (CLEAR).
The conference was themed “Closing Education Inequalities for Underserved Children and Communities to Mitigate Future Crisis”.
Bankole said that it was imperative to close the gaps of inequality in education in order to eliminate the impacts of poor learning, youth unemployability and other negative impacts suffered due to poor education.
“Its high time we looked for education that is qualitative and affordable and present it to this underserved children, so in the future we don’t start dealing with what we could have solved now.
“It is not just only about the subject learning alone, but also an emphasis should be on learning that impacts and can transform life.
“I am a passionate educationist today and I came into education by chance cause I wanted to be an accountant but I studied guidance and counseling and now I’ve been impacted and I also impact.
“So in school today aside learning, something should change in a child, a concept, an idea, a belief, a mood of doing things, the way and outlook to life, this is the way to bridge the gap of inequality in education,” she said.
Olusola said that the mindset of studying in an extremely expensive school using a British or American curriculum was not all that mattered in learning but the way the curriculum in use were being handled and administered by the teachers and school administrators.
Mr Kole Shettima, Nigeria Director, MacArthur Foundation, who was represented by Mr Dayo Olaide, Deputy Director, said that to close the gap of inequality in education, opportunities and access to education must first be created and distributed to every child.
Shettima said though it was the responsibility of the government to provide quality education, but that it was also a collective responsibility for parents, guardians, teachers, schools and religious bodies to create enabling environments for equal learning.
“It is a shared responsibility for government, private sectors, communities, individuals, and parents to first create time for the child to go to school and not deprived them from accessing education.
“We see children hawk on streets because the time for school has been converted to time for trade which should not be.
“Yes we understand that the sole reason for inequality is life circumstances,but before anything else, the opportunity for education must be created and distributed if we want to close the gaps of inequality in education,” he said.
Mrs Ngozi John-Uyah, General Secretary, International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) America, said teaching and learning for the underserved child should also be extended beyond the walls of a class.
John-Uyah advised on the need for experimentation, interaction between underserved and underprivileged children with children in other stratas of life.
She also advised that children be allowed to make mistake while growing and be allowed to chose their career path, while parents, guardians, the school and the community should help guide the chosen path and not discourage or deprive them.
Mrs Inimfon Etuk, Founder of She Forum Africa, also advocated social exposure and the need for training and retraining of teachers, school administrators and care givers to meet international best teaching practice.
Mrs Irene Bangwell, Co-Founder of the KNOSK 100-A-DAY School in Kuje, said that there was a need for more innovative way of teaching and learning.
Bangwell said that the underserved child could have thorn clothes and shoes but had great academic prowess if same or equal level of quality education was offered to them.
“If the underserved child is given equal opportunity with their peers, we would see that though they have thorn shoes and clothes, but their brains are not thorn.
“And that is why we have taken the responsibility of providing this children with same quality education at KNOSK 100-A-DAY School where with Just #100 a day, a child gets to learn on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
“This is one way we are already bridging the gap of inequality in education and we are doing so to change the trajectory which would in the future also bring this children and their families out of poverty,” she said.
Mr Kingsley Bangwell, Co-Founder of KNOSK 100-A-DAY School urged the government, private sectors and other well meaning Nigerians, not to give up on the education sector but to invest in it.
He said that education remained one of the surest way to solve the nations developmental problem and should be prioritised.
The CLEAR Conference 2022 was organized by KNOSK 100-A-Day Secondary School Kuje, to understudy, share and gather experience on the impacts of low cost schools and ways to close the gaps of inequality in education.
NAN