We ‘ll Not Allow School Proprietors to Exploit Parents, Kano Vows

Ahmad Sorondinki in Kano

The Kano State Government has warned that henceforth it will not allow private school proprietors to exploit unsuspecting parents and guardians by increasing and charging students exorbitant school fees.

The Special Adviser to the state Governor on Kano State Private and Voluntary Institution Board, Baba Abubakar Umar, disclosed this during a media briefing held yesterday in Kano.

According to him, “How proprietors of private schools are charging exorbitant school fees was unbecoming and the government would no longer tolerate such attitude.”

The Special Adviser noted that the state government had embarked on the revalidation of private school ownership certificates to ensure adequate digital data for all private schools in the state.

He said: “We shared free validation forms to over 7,000 private schools operating in the state, but only three thousand collected, filled, and returned the forms to the board.

“When I came onboard, I was faced with a pathetic situation because private schools were operating anyhow. They were exploring parents through increasing exorbitant charges at will despite the current economic situation the country is facing.

“An established law by the state government in 2004 mandated every private school to pay 10 percent of its total termly earnings to the state government as revenue, but unfortunately they are not complying, and this attitude will not be accepted.”

He pointed out that he had records of some private schools which previously paid their revenue directly to the personal account of the former executive secretary of the board.