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The National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS) has raised the alarm over the rate at which private schools are closing down due to the country’s economic situation.
Consequently, the association has called for urgent government intervention to stop the trend.
In an interview with journalists in Ibadan on Thursday, the national general secretary of NAPPS, Kayode Adeyemi, lamented the significant withdrawal of students recorded and the inability of many school owners to keep their educational outfits open.
Mr Adeyemi said the challenges are not just for low-level schools but also for most of the upper class.
“Business has not been palatable, and we have many schools closing down now. We have low enrollment, and there is a lack of capacity to sustain the work.
“It is as bad as private school owners resorting to transportation businesses after closing down their schools,” he said.
Mr Adeyemi said parents were now considering public and medium-scale schools to reduce expenses and transportation costs.
He said many school owners had been begging parents to pay their children’s school fees owed since 2023 and had resorted to withdrawing their children from school.
Mr Adeyemi also decried what he called multiple taxes, which the government subjected to private school owners.
According to him, many teachers now do two to three private coaching, selling second-hand materials or taking to commercial motorcycle riding to help themselves.
He said that since most public schools lacked the capacity and infrastructure to cater to the teeming Nigerian children, the government should help private school owners.
Visits to some public schools in the Ibadan metropolis showed a significant increase in the rate of enrolment, occasioned by the withdrawal of children from private schools.
One of the teachers in charge of enrolment in a public school, who preferred anonymity, told journalists that she had enrolled many students who left private schools.
“They came to join us from JSS one to SS three. We keep receiving them as their parents can no longer afford to keep them in private schools due to the present economic situation. We know what the situation is,” she said.
A parent, Odunayo Majekodunmi, said there was no way many could cope with keeping their children in private schools again, hence their mass withdrawal and subsequent enrollment in public schools.
“So, parents now scout for public schools that are a bit okay to keep their children,” Ms Majekodunmi said.
