TheCable

The Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has closed down two private schools for “operating below standard”.

The affected schools are Erudite Bright Kids School at Kagini along the Kubwa expressway and Jane’s Angela School in Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC).

Danlami Hayyo, the FCTA mandate secretary for education, who led the operation, said the measure was taken to ensure the quality of teaching and learning in schools in the nation’s capital.

He said the move was in line with the mandate of the department of quality assurance charged with the responsibility of proper accreditation of schools, monitoring and inspection.

“In a normal situation, no school should be allowed to operate in the FCT without due registration, payment of dues and obtaining the necessary requirements,” NAN quoted Hayyo as saying.

“The secretariat through the department of quality assurance is determined to sanitise the system for a better teaching and learning process.

“We will also intensify efforts to ensure FCT schools compete favourably in the global education space.”

Hayyo also frowned at the attitude of some proprietors who denied FCTA’s evaluators and inspectors from accessing their school premises.

On her part, Favour Nse-Edem, director of the department of quality assurance, said the sealed schools failed to satisfy the conditions for the establishment of regular schools.

Nse-Edem said the FCTA has no records of their existence, noting that the schools have been operating for years.

She said the department would continue to ensure that both public and private schools in the FCT operate within the set standards.

The director added that the closure of the schools was done with the approval of Nyesom Wike, minister of FCT.

“There are other schools operating in an environment that predisposes students to health hazards and those operating in faulty physical structure among others,” Nse-Edem said.

“The department has continued to advise the school owners on what is expected of them but have continued to ignore such professional advice of quality assurance evaluators.”