PRIVATE SCHOOL BUSINESS IN NIGERIA HAVE BEEN HIJACKED.


By Isaac Desmond.

When ever vision is not the driving force, abuse is inevitable.

I am very concerned about the state and strength of education in Nigeria, every right thinking professional knows that there’s imminent catastrophic educational holocaust that if not urgently attended to will spell doom for the Glorious future of our dear country.

It’s obvious that government has failed woefully in their primary responsibility of providing quality education to her citizenry.

The private schools who many thought will salvage the situation have been hijacked.

I am very sure, many school owners may not agree with me, however, kindly complete your reading before taking position on this article.

The big question you may want to ask is “who hijacked private school business? How and why?

I will definitely answer your questions but before then, let me make this point.

Businesses just like other profesions are meant to solve problems.
In medical profession, doctors have the final say.
I went for my quarterly routine check up last week. Within me, I was apparently fine, but after his thorough clinical examination, I was diagnosed of typhoid. Finally, i was placed on treatment and I actually felt better and more rejuvenated after the treatment.

I believed everything the doctor said because he is a professional. How come our students and parents don’t believe everything we tell them as professional in education sector?.

Dear educators, schools just like hospitals are not just business, it’s a professional business.

It’s not business for all, it’s highly technical, demanding and sensitive. It’s a matter of life and death, wisdom and ignorance, learned and unlearned.

Truth be told. With due respect to some exception, many private school owners are no longer in total control of their school policies. The students and their parents are in control while school owners are figure heads.

Private school business have been hijacked by the students parents/guardians.

HOW?
Parents have hijacked many private schools and are now in control of the following sensitive areas.

  1. ADMISSION.
    In many schools today, parents determines the class their ward will be admitted into. Those who are not notorious will give reasons while they want their ward admitted in the class while the notorious ones will intimidate and threaten the school owners to admit their wards in the class they want or they will go to another vulnerable school.
    Ofcourse, many schools have yielded and abandoned their admission policy.

In many schools, admission is constantly in progress, even in third term.
Parents have hijacked private school business in Nigeria.

  1. PROMOTION
    Parents equally determine the class they want their ward to be promoted to. If not for last minute effort of some state government, students and their guardians had almost successfully cancelled primary six.

They forced private schools to register their wards for common entrance examination in primary 5, some in primary 4.

They are working very hard to cancel SS3, I am afraid, they will succeed. most of them now write WAEC in SS2 and even in SS1.

Many private school owners are helpless. They are left between doing the wrong thing to survive or closing their school.

The disciplined, God fearing and professionals among them are crying while those who compromises are smiling to the bank.

  1. EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE.
    The biggest hook on the neck of private school owners is that their students and parents have successfully convinced the world that the only way to prove their worth is by making their wards pass external examination. Normally, parents pay school fees, schools teach while students read and write exams but now, schools do both the teaching and writing examination just to please their hijackers.
  2. HIRING AND FIRING.
    Parents are now so powerful that they dictate who to hire and fire. I have seen many private school owners firing their staff on the dictate of their loyal or rich parents. It’s as bad as that.
  3. PUNISHMENT. Schools are totally confused on this. Parents A will issue instructions like beat them, deal with them while Parents B will threaten that if you touch my child, the school will be in trouble.

School owners have abandoned their vision driven policies and are under constant pressure trying to please their insatiable masters, most of which are stack illiterate.

WHY ARE PARENTS HAVING UPPER HAND?

Unhealthy competition, Get rich quick syndrome, ignorance, proliferation of uneducated school administrators. Decline in societal values, corruption and high moral decadence.

Above all. The unfortunate proliferation of private school owners association brought division. The biggest problem facing private education sector today is lack of unity among school owners. It’s almost impossible to formulate a common policy.

Parents are really exploiting this devastating private school weakness to the detriment of their wards and standard of education in Nigeria at large.

My major concern is that these half baked products we breed today will be the ones to teach our children tomorrow.

I call on all reasonable and concerned private school owners and their associations to rise up to their responsibility now.

There is urgent need for training and re-orientation of school owners to avert this imminent destruction of the already bleeding education sector in Nigeria.

May God almighty continue to protect your school and grant you the grace to accomplish this ever rewarding but challenging task.

ISAAC DESMOND,