Basic education minister shuts 722 clandestine private schools.

The 722 clandestine establishments of Basic Private Education are found in the Adamawa, Centre, East, Littoral, West and South regions.

“The following basic private education establishments shall be closed with effect from the date of this decision. This involves a total of 722 private education schools throughout the country,” part of the decision read.

According to the decision, most of the schools do not meet up with all the conditions necessary to establish and operate a private school within the basic education sector.

“The 722 schools should be closed down because they do not have documents which authorise them to establish and operate,” the decision added.

The ministerial decision continued that some of the schools have a decision to establish a school, but not that which authorises them to go operational. Some schools were closed for repeated failure to obtain the necessary authorisation for the creation and operation of the site.

Other schools were closed for disturbance of public order, location not in compliance with the Ministry’s rules, school are being housed in a family house, among others.

According to the Minister of Basic Education, private school authorities are obliged to create a proper learning environment for pupils.

Following the decision by the minister, the North, North West, South West and Far North are not included. The ranking of regions with non-compliant private schools puts the Littoral at the top of the list, with 317 clandestine public schools that have been closed.

The West Region comes second with 206, and in third place is the Centre, with 115 private clandestine schools. The East Region is fourth with 33 schools, and in fifth place is the South Region with 31 schools, and finally Adamawa with 16.

The Minister of Basic Education, in the decision, highlighted that these schools will only be authorised to resume their activities after regularisation of their administrative situation and authorisation from the ministry.

The decision further called on Administrative Authorities and the Regional Delegates of Basic Education to effectively apply the decision.

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue N0: 3190 of August 05, 2024