From Joseph Uchenna, Makurdi
The Benue state government has warned that it would not hesitate to clamp down on any school that victimize learners and violates its policy on textbook reuse and purchase.
The State government had warned both public and private schools in the state against imposing compulsory purchase of books from within the schools, insisting that parents are at liberty to buy books outside the schools their children and wards attend as well as allow for reuse of some text books to reduce cost burden on parents.
However, Orenda and Opal Schools allegedly violated the policy purporting its closure by the Benue State Education Quality Assurance and Examinations Board, BEQAEB,
The Executive Secretary of BEQAEB, Dr. Terna Francis, who led officials of the Board’s Directorate of Enforcement and Compliance to the schools, said the action followed several complaints by parents alleging that their children were being victimised for failing to purchase exercise and test books directly from the schools.
A court order authorising the sealing of the schools was served on the proprietor before officials of the Board locked the premises.
Francis said the enforcement action became necessary after repeated attempts by the Board to engage the schools and resolve the complaints amicably failed.
According to him, “We went out with the enforcement team of the Benue State Education Quality Assurance and Examinations Board to seal Orenda and Opal schools here in Makurdi. This closure is as a result of the many complaints we received from parents regarding the victimisation of their learners in these schools.”
He said, “The schools have insisted that learners and their parents must buy exercise books and text books from their school, otherwise they will not be attended to, even after paying school fees. It is quite unfortunate because the Benue State Government, through the Ministry of Education and Knowledge Management, as well as the Benue State Education Quality Assurance and Examinations Board, have continually reminded school owners, proprietors and administrators that there is a textbook reuse policy in Benue State.”
Francis explained that the Board initially contacted the proprietor by telephone and directed her to stop the alleged practice, but the complaints persisted.
He said “We approached this particular school, first through a phone conversation, and we spoke with the proprietor and asked her to desist from that victimisation. They went on and continued in the same manner”.
He added that the Board subsequently wrote officially to the school and invited the proprietor, school management and PTA chairman for a meeting aimed at resolving the matter, saying, “They came without the proprietor, and we asked why she did not attend our meeting. We rescheduled and asked the school administrator and the principal to pick a convenient date, which they did. On that day, they failed to come, and there was no reason given,” he said.
According to the Executive Secretary, complaints from parents subsequently indicated that the alleged victimisation had extended beyond the purchase of books. “We continued to hear from the parents of these learners that the victimisation done to the learners went to the extent that when they submit their homework, the teachers were directed not to mark, and they were not being marked,” he alleged.
He further said, “Their books were not allowed into the classroom, even after paying school fees. And so, the children started feeling withdrawn and demoralised, and of course, this is against the child protection laws of Benue State and the Federation.”
Francis stressed that the state’s textbook policy was designed to give parents flexibility and prevent them from being subjected to unnecessary financial pressure.
He said, “If a particular school has textbooks for sale, it should not be made mandatory for parents to buy from the school. Parents are allowed to bring the textbooks of their older children and transmit them to the younger ones for use.”
He maintained that schools were also required to give parents the freedom to source prescribed textbooks elsewhere.
“If the list of textbooks is available in a school, parents should be given a copy, and they should decide whether to buy it outside of the school in bookstores or to pick from the school. It is a matter of option and not a matter of necessity that parents must buy books from the school,” he stated.
Francis said the Board, in conjunction with the office of the Attorney-General of the State, approached a court of competent jurisdiction after the alleged violations persisted.
“The continual victimisation of these parents and the children led us to approach the Court of Competent Jurisdiction, where, together with the Attorney-General of the State, we instituted and presented the facts before the court on this matter, and the court graciously granted us an order to seal the schools,” he said.
Asked how long the schools would remain sealed, the BEQAEB boss said, “The school will remain sealed indefinitely until we come to terms with the owner of the school and the administrators, and if they are ready and willing, and until they demonstrate clearly before us through the conditions that we are going to put before them, and we are convinced that they are willing to operate the schools in a responsible manner, with respect for every learner and the parents that have enrolled their children in those schools,” he said.
On compliance by other private schools in the state, Francis said the Board had not received similar petitions against other schools but warned proprietors and administrators against violating government policies. “Our learners are in school at the moment. We have staff of the Board that are out on monitoring exercise, and they are interacting with parents.”
He urged parents facing similar challenges in other schools to report such cases to the Board with supporting evidence.
“We call on parents who have such challenges in other schools to lodge their complaints. They should bring before us petitions with evidence of victimisation, and we’ll take it from there,” Francis said.
The Executive Secretary described the action against Orenda and Opal Schools as “a deterrent to other proprietors, and we want to warn that if there is a breach in any school at all by any administrator or proprietor, we are going to clamp down on the school aggressively,” he warned.
Some parents who spoke on ground of anonymity to our correspondent supported the closure of the school saying that they have been made to pay heavily for books.
“Only recently, the school authority increased school fees. I have two children and pay as much as over 200,000 naira for fees and more than 50,000 for books. The school should give us the fees we have paid so we could enroll our children in another school. We are tired of this victimization”, one of the parents confided in our correspondent.
A furious proprietress broke the windscreen of BEQAEB bus, it was learnt.
