Mrs. Folasade Adefisayo, the Lagos State Education Commissioner, has advised parents not to send their children to secondary school before they have completed the six years of basic education required by the National Policy on Education (NPE).
Last Friday, the commissioner warned secondary schools against accepting pupils who have not completed primary six during an interactive session with educators and visitors at the 2021 Total School Support Exhibition (TOSSE) hosted at the Ten Degrees event complex in Oregun.
Responding to question about the culture of rushing children off to secondary school from primary four or five, Mrs. Adefisayo said: “As principal of a secondary school, I never admitted a child without primary six report card. But I want to appeal to secondary schools too especially private secondary schools stop taking underage children because it even undermines your school because it takes them long to settle down they don’t really. They may be brilliant but I have hardly seen anyone who kept it up till SS3 because they are so young.”
“Schools have to let parents know if a child comes in at eight he is going to be like 13 or 14 in SS3. Do you really want a fourteen year-old in the university? A child who cannot make decisions in a free environment free for all where you know the people there are much older than them you don’t want your 13, 14 years old in an environment of 20-year old who in turn will force them to do things they do not want to do. So I think it is a campaign that we all have to work on together. We are working on that to bring back Primary six.”
When asked if the government may consider sanctions against schools that admit underage children in an interview, Mrs. Adefisayo said: “We are going to look at that … to sanction them because the national policy on education is clear on it that children from so-so age to so-so age should be in primary school.”
The Commissioner added that the Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu administration has improved school infrastructure, teacher training, curriculum review, and the integration of technology in teaching and learning, among other things.
She mentioned the government’s aim to develop technologically advanced, environmentally friendly schools, stating that a trial program had begun at Vetland Junior School.
Mrs. Adefisayo said the Office of Education Quality Assurance would discuss the review with relevant government agencies in response to the schools’ request that the government reduce the cost of material testing from N100,000 and combine taxes to prevent duplicate taxation.
The commissioner was backed up by directors and leaders of ministry of education agencies, units, and commissions in dealing with issues such as school administration, multiple taxation, quality assurance, and school approval requirements, among others.
Other members of the panellists include the Chairman, Teaching Service Commission, Mrs. Olabisi Ariyo, Tutor General/Permanent Secretary District IV, Mr. Olajide Charles, Tutor General/Permanent Secretary District VI, Mrs. Okelola Oludara, Tutor General/Permanent Secretary District II, Mrs. Anike Adekanye, Director General, Office of Education Quality Assurance, Mrs. Abiola Seriki Ayeni, Executive Secretary, LASTVEB, Mrs. Moronke Azeez, Permanent Board Member LSUBEB, Mrs. Sijuade Idowu-Tiamiyu, Senior Special Assistant, STEAM, Mrs. Adetola Salau. They proffered solutions to challenges facing the sector and intimated stakeholders on the roles of their respective agencies.
Source : The Nation