The Cross River House of Assembly has urged owners of schools in the state to invest in teachers for proper knowledge and growth in the education sector.
Chairman, Special Committee on Private Schools, Mr Hilary Bisong, gave the advice on in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital when he led his colleagues on an over-sight function to some private schools in the metropolis, calling for the cooperation of proprietors of private schools in the state to enhance the quality training.
Addressing newsmen after the inspection, the representative of Boki II state constituency in the House noted that, some private schools that employed unspecialised teachers in most fields were charging outrageous school fees even in the face of recession.
“We are not fully satisfied with the quality of teachers in private schools, especially in the area of specialization. But on the whole, most of the teachers have acquired basic tertiary education.
“This exercise is very important because we need to carry out an urgent legislative intervention, into the quality and standard of private schools in the state.
“This over-sight function will also help us to condemn the ownership structures of the schools and any other areas that will require government’s intervention to support the standard’’
Responding, the Managing Director of Access High School, Mrs Folasade Umoden, noted that the exercise would help to correct the imbalance in private schools.
She urged lawmakers to initiate bills that would enhance the smooth operation of private schools in the state.
“The government alone cannot effectively run the educational sector. We also need the government’s support in the areas of donation of books, laboratory equipment and others because we are also complementing government’s effort’’.
The committee is expected to also visit private schools in the northern and central parts of the state, and would summit its report at the end of the exercise to the House for further actions.
Some of the Schools visited were, Access High School, Aunty Sama Nursery and Primary School, Lourdes Academy, St. Anne’s High School among others.
