LlThe Executive Chairman of the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education (NSUBEB), Dr. Kassim Muhammad Kassim, is advocating for a review of the laws establishing private primary schools in Nasarawa State.
Dr. Kassim, the chairman, disclosed this on Tuesday when he led the management team of the board on a courtesy visit to the Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Dr. Danladi Jatau.
He believes that operators of private primary schools have completely abused the license issued to them by running substandard basic education programs.
The NSUBEB chairman says the operators of these schools hide under the cover of the license, and parents ignorantly abandon public primary schools to patronize them, a development that makes public schools empty without pupils.
The chairman was of the view that private schools are good but should be given licenses to operate only at secondary school levels, assuring that the board under his leadership is working tirelessly to make public primary schools work again to the admiration of all.
He said that training, retraining of teachers, renovation, and building of additional classrooms, provision of basic instructional learning materials, and recruitment of additional teachers are some of his top priorities to get parents attracted to public schools.
The chairman further appealed to the speaker to use his good office to ensure that the junior secondary school section, which is by law under NSUBEB, is returned back for effective monitoring.
Responding, the Speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Dr. Danladi Jatau, expressed satisfaction with the work of the chairman so far in office.
“Since you took over as chairman of the board, we have seen tremendous efforts towards transforming the primary sector. Primary education is the foundation; once you get it wrong, forget it. It is not all about structures but standards.
“And for this reason, we will give you full support to revive basic education. We are partners; you must revive primary schools in Nasarawa, and we are not going to allow mushroom schools to operate in our state, and standards must be maintained,” he said.
