The Federal Capital Territory Administration has threatened to close any school found contravening the rules of operations in the nation’s capital city.
The Mandate Secretary for FCTA Education Secretariat, Alhaji Sani El-Katuzu, made the threat on Tuesday in Abuja.
He spoke when he led officials of the secretariat to Chrisland School in Wumba District, Abuja on Tuesday.
El-Katuzu explained that the visit was necessitated by the controversy trailing the recent alleged sex scandal involving a female student and four other males of the Lagos arm of the school during an international sports competition in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
He said that the secretariat would continue to intensify efforts to mitigate scandalous incidences involving children in the learning environment.
The Secretary admonished parents not to surrender their parental responsibilities to schools as there was no excuse for parents to allow their kids to be wayward in the society.
El-Katuzu said that officers from the FCT Department of Quality Assurance had recently visited Chrisland School and other schools, including public schools, to enforce standing school rules and regulations in FCT.
He said: “The secretariat as a regulatory body will not hesitate to close any school contravening the rules of operations in the FCT.
“Our people do their job by constantly visiting both public and private schools, that is why we have low incidences of unfortunate situations in our schools .
“I would advice parents to take the training of their students very seriously.
“We should not surrender our parental responsibility to schools as they simply cannot as once you’re not a parent, there is no way you can give parental care.”
Responding, the Principal of the school in Abuja, Taiwo Adenariwo, disclosed that some of the sanctions that were imposed on Chrisland Schools in Lagos had been lifted because the investigation was still ongoing.
Adenariwo appealed to the FCT Secretary for Education to create a platform where parents could also be addressed on such issue for them to have a decent environment.
He said: “It is a welcome development for all stakeholders in the business of taking care of our children, especially the schools, the FCT Education Secretariat has done well in visiting us to sympathise with us and also to offer advice in regards to the issue.
“We must also begin to bring parents into the narratives, we must begin to let them know that there are consequences for some of the things that we do with our children as they are not just the responsibility of the schools alone.
“For us in the FCT, and all our other schools as well, we are doing everything important to make sure that children turn out exact way we want them to be, morally upright and spiritually filled.”
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