The Igbo-Etiti Local Government Council in Enugu State has threatened to shut down private schools still observing the illegal sit-at-home on Mondays.
While urging parents and guardians to release their children/wards, it gave the assurance that security had been put in place to ensure their safety.
The chairman, Public Schools Supervision Committee (PSSC), Dr Amadi Aroh, gave the warning on Tuesday during a meeting with proprietors of private schools in Ogbede.
Aroh said the warning was in line with the vision of the council chairman, Dr Eric Odo, to ensure academic activities are unhindered in both public and private schools in the area.
Expressing displeasure that private schools in Igbo-Etiti do not go to school on Mondays months after the public schools started, the PSSC chairman lamented:
“The local government has successfully stopped sit-at-home in public schools. However, the private schools have not adjusted to the new reality, thus reducing the number of schooling days. From next week Monday, the PSSC will embark on monitoring, and any private school that fails to open will be shut down.”
”The proprietor will be considered as saboteur to government’s effort to move education forward in Igbo-Etiti. Private schools must start unfailingly on Mondays because the LGA and the State Ministry of Education will sanction any school that fails to comply with the order,” Aroh said.
The PSSC chairman also stressed the importance of maintaining quality assurance in the teaching and learning in private schools.
According to him, the major aim of establishing a school, which is to transfer knowledge from one individual to another, must be sustained.
Recall that back in October 2024, the Enugu State Government threatened to sanction schools and businesses that obeyed the ongoing controversial two-day sit-at-home in Nigeria’s south-east. This sit-at-home is believed to be enforced by a faction of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), which agitates for secession of South-east and some parts of South-south from Nigeria.
At the time, the government also stated that it would adequately sanction teachers from both private and public schools who stayed off school on Mondays in compliance with the illegal order.
Speaking on behalf of other proprietors, Mr Dominic Ngwu, acknowledged the efforts of the council chairman and the PSSC to reposition education sector in Igbo-Etiti.
Ngwu promised that proprietors of private schools in the area would comply with the order to reopen their schools on Mondays.
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