The Benue government says it will soon close more private schools as part of measures to ensure that only quality institutions were allowed to operate.
Prof. Dennis Ityavyar, Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, who announced this on Wednesday in Makurdi, said that the impending closure would be the second phase after 2,424 schools were shut in August 2017.
Ityavyar made the announcement when he received the management of New Christian Covenant College, Makurdi.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that the school management was in the ministry to present Mr Moses Ape, the best student in this year’s Joint Admissions Matriculation Board (JAMB) UTME.
Ityavyar reiterated government’s commitment to quality education, saying that a template had been set toward controlling standards.
He said that children in schools closed down would be moved to government schools in the local governments nearest to them so that their academic pursuit would not be affected.
The commissioner commended Ape for making the state proud, saying that the performance was a testimony to the state government’s insistence that only genuine schools be given the nod.
“That a student from your college has performed so brilliantly only testifies to the fact that we were right to allow it to operate after our assessment; we shall continue to assess the schools to weed out out those not good for us,” he said.
Ityavyar said that Ape’s performance had placed Benue on the global map as centre of academic excellence, and assured school proprietors of government’s readiness to create an enabling atmosphere where quality education would flourish.
Earlier, the Proprietor of the school, Rev. Thomas Shikaan, had told the commissioner that they had come to present Ape, the overall best student in this year’s JAMB-organised UTME, to the state government.
Shikaan said that the college had raised students that scored 300 and above in UTME, adding that the institution had zero tolerance for examination malpractice.
Ape, 17, in a brief speech, solicited government’s continued support toward quality education to the young ones.
NAN reports that the commissioner later presented souvenirs to Ape, his parents and the college management. (NAN)