By Henry Odeh
The Oyo state house of assembly has expressed concerns over the move by the Oyo state ministry of education with regards to a circular it sent out prohibiting all unregistered schools in the state from reopening.
The house made this submission on Thursday while deliberating on a motio titled “Prohibiting The Reopening of Unregistered Private Schools In Oyo State.”
The house noted that, it was concerned by the fact that the number of unregistered private schools both in primary and secondary schools in the state exceed the number of registered ones adding that if the government decide to stop reopening of unregistered private schools, thousands of pupils will roam and wander about without schools to resume to after spending three months at home.
The house explained that government should use this COVID-19 pandemic period to capture many unregistered schools in the state through inclusive participation such that the ministry involved will set up a special COVID-19 preventive measure seminar for proprietors and proprietress of all unregistered private schools in the state zone by zone or local government by local government.
The house stated that the government will be able to request all unregistered private schools to attend such seminar with the view of getting them to obtain the form to commence their schools registration process, adding that the move will bring out unregistered schools into registered net and by extension improve the state internally generated revenue (IGR).
The house however resolved among resolutions to call on ministry of education to readdress the issue of prohibiting the unregistered private schools from reopening.
