A school proprietor, Mr Augustine Agali, has called on the Federal Government to establish an education trust fund for private school operators in the country.
Agali, Proprietor of Prevailers Comprehensive College, Ijegun, Lagos told the News Agency of Nigerian (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that there was urgent need for the government to intervene due to the recession.
He said that it had become difficult for school proprietors to obtain a loan from banks to develop their facilities.
When established, he said, the trust fund would provide easy access to registered private schools to obtain loans at low interest rate.
The proprietor said that the public institutions were already benefiting from the tertiary education trust fund, adding that private schools should also be considered.
“Majority of the people that own private schools are teachers and have little or no access to public funds to finance their schools.
“They depend on lean resources at their disposal to setup the schools.
“Government should setup a trust fund through which school proprietors can borrow money to provide necessary facilities in their schools.
“It is very difficult to access loans from commercial banks because of collateral, high interest, and other hidden conditions that cannot be easily met.
“If the Federal Government can setup the trust fund, it will go a long way to assist the private school owners to provide conducive learning environment for children.’’
Agali urged the government to organise a stakeholders meeting, where educationists would brainstorm to design a template for the trust fund. (NAN)