Veteran teacher advocates enrollment of children in public schools

Mr Kuranga Omomeji, a veteran teacher in Kwara State, has advocated compulsory enrollment of children of public officers in public schools to encourage service delivery in such schools.

Omomeji, who made the call on Friday while speaking with newsmen at the University of Ilorin, said there was no reason why teachers should not also have their children enrolled in schools where they teach.

The teacher, who was former Chairman of the Kwara State Chapter of the All Nigeria Conference of Principals of Secondary Schools (ANCOPSS), said that the quality of services in public schools was dropping by the day.

He said that those in positions of authourity to make changes were not concerned about the situation because they neither had their children nor wards in public schools.

Omomeji advised policy makers to take the issue of infrastructure decline in schools very seriously.

“To achieve a better public school system those who run the three arms of government must be compelled to enroll their children and wards in government-owned institutions.

“If they feel the impact of the situation, they would always act right,” he said.

Omomeji traced the history of the declining trend in public schools to the continuous deregulation of ownership of educational institutions.

He said that most of those now in government and teachers in our schools were products of public schools.

The veteran teacher also advocated the return of boarding system in secondary schools as it was the case some years ago.

He said that pupils in public schools enjoyed closer supervision from teachers and other designated staff who also operated under the watchful eyes of school principals and their higher authorities who also mentor students.

According to him, most of the schools that now excel beyond expectations in turning out high quality products operate boarding system as it was the case in the past.

Omomeji also enjoined stakeholders to pay attention to entrepreneurial training of students to address the growing rate of unemployment among graduates.