Lagos – The Director-General, Lagos State Education Quality Assurance, Mrs Ronke Soyombo, on Thursday urged private school owners in the state to register their schools to get government approval.
Soyombo gave the advice while addressing newsmen in Lagos, saying all approved schools would have the state’s quality assurance emblem displayed on them.
The director-general said that the newly-established agency had the mandate to ensure quality assurance in all public and private schools in Lagos State.
According to the official, the agency will monitor the standard of teaching and learning in schools and ensure the enforcement of right behaviour, safety, leadership and management of schools.
“We are trying our best to see how we can guarantee quality assurance in private schools, which was not in place before but has just been put in place by the government.
“We have met with all the stakeholders; we have reviewed our instrument because we have taken the policy down from the Federal Government and Education School Support Programme In Nigeria (ESSPIN) and reviewed it to suit Lagos State.[pro_ad_display_adzone id=”10″]
“We did not review the policy on our own, we reviewed it with the support of all the stakeholders,’’ she said.
Soyombo said that representatives of the agency would be visiting schools to ensure that the right quality of education was being given to children.
“The agency’s staff will be visiting a lot of private schools to make sure that the owners of such schools are giving the right education to our children; so, we are going to be looking at a lot of things.
“We are going to give all approved schools the agency’s emblem with unique numbers that we are generating.
“And with the emblem, parents can decide on the school they want to send their children to.
“We are urging all private schools to come and register and obtain the state government’s approval.
“This is because we do not want any child to go to any school for the sake of it; our children’s education matter so much to us.
“We will be looking at how schools are developing our children to becoming leaders of tomorrow,” Soyombo said.
“We are not changing the cost at all; what we want is for them to come to us when they need any support.
“The agency will be sending its officials to schools; they will leave a legacy and set clear and achievable targets that can move the schools forward.
“If we grade a school as outstanding, we will display the agency’s banner there. And that will tell parents a lot about the school.
“It is not a time to damage any school, it is aimed at improving the standard in schools,’’ the director-general said. (NAN)
