Lagos State government, in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, has clamped down on illegal private schools in the state. The clamp down, which started at the weekend, affected 41 primary and secondary schools so far. Briefing newsmen yesterday, the Deputy Governor, who also doubles as the Commissioner for Education, Mrs Sarah Adebisi Sosan, said the illegal private schools failed to abide by the requirement of education policies stipulated by government for its establishment. She said two months ago, government went round major towns in the state to inspect facilities on ground and warn proprietors of the schools to meet up with its standard and requirements, adding that what they found were alarming. He said some of these schools use uncompleted buildings with no ventilation, but displayed government approved signs. Sosan said aside being situated in an unhygenic environment, which could pose a threat to children of school age, the school merge classes, lack professionally trained teachers and have their proprietors’ confusing and exploiting parents, especially those who are not literate. "In any developed society, we have to abide by these rules. We have a lot of private participation in the state, likewise in the school system. Government cannot provide all education needs of children in the state. Parents have a choice in sending their children either to a private or public school, and in doing this, it has to be approved," she said. Meanwhile, owners of the affected private schools yesterday stormed the governor's office and state House of Assembly in Ikeja, to appeal to the state government to rescind its decision. Their Spokesman, under the aegis of Association of Formidable Educational Development (AFED), Joseph Ejenavi, said government should consider the plight of teachers likely to lose their jobs and their dependants if the decision was not reversed. Currently, the state has over 2000 approved private schools with qualified teachers and the required facilities needed to run it and the government is charging the lowest rate of between N50,000 for primary school and N55, 000 for secondary schools. Sosan therefore advised that school's proprietors should look for land and have a purpose-built school. SOURCE: ALLAFRICA