Continued closure of Schools: Private Schools Teachers, Proprietors lament

The Proprietors and teachers of private schools have expressed dismay over federal government’s decision to keep citadels of learning closed despite lifting the ban on worship centres, financial institutions and some businesses across the country.

They said with the continued shutting down of schools, following the disease outbreak of Coronavirus which has crippled all private schools in the country, the government would have no choice than to take over payment of their salaries.









Private schools in Nigeria from nursery to tertiary levels had over the years gained acceptance due to insufficient public schools, with most of the few ones unable to offer quality education.







But the closure of schools as part of measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has dealt a devastating blow on the private schools since they depend on fees from their students for their operations, unlike the public schools which are run and funded by the government.









Expressing worry that the educational sector had been sidelined in the bid to relax restrictions, proprietors and teachers of private schools said a total of 1,000,143 teaching and non-teaching staff are now jobless in about 84,614 private schools as a result of the shutdown."Leadership".