The Association for Formidable Education Development on Friday appealed to the Lagos State Government to exercise restraint in closing about 10,000 schools regarded as substandard.
The President of the association, Ifejola Dada, made the appeal in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos.
Dada said the clamp down might cause damage to the ongoing reform and upgrade of schools being carried out by the government in conjunction with the association.
Dada said: “We wish to remind the state government that the initial fall out of the exercise in the past did not yield positive development for the administration.
“It was as a result of this that the last administration constituted a special committee to look into a civil way of handling the situation.
“We are aware that the outcome is what we today refer to as the education stakeholders’ quarterly meeting.”
The president said that it was necessary for the government to reconsider the closure because of low income earners patronising such schools.
She advised the government to look beyond the unattractive school buildings and find out the quality of education in the structures.
Dada said that the challenge facing more than half of private schools in the state was good accommodation but said that pupils were getting quality education from the schools.
Dada disclosed: “Even with the grading exercise by the government, it has been discovered that the children were graded in three and four stars.
“It is beyond the expectation of the government because it never expected such high quality from AFED Schools.”
However, Ronke Soyombo, the Director, Office of Quality Assurance in the Lagos State Ministry of Education, said the closure of substandard schools was necessary.
Soyombo gave the assurance that the government would work with AFED to encourage proprietors to come forward to register their schools.
Soyombo said: “Whether highbrow schools or low income schools, all the state government wants is quality education.”
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